Before PBKS vs. RCB, Harshal Patel discusses his “USP” and goals. “I challenge myself to be as good as Jasprit Bumrah.”

In an exclusive conversation with ESPNcricinfo, Harshal Patel discussed the build-up to the playoffs and the highly anticipated match between the Punjab Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2024. The match is significant for both teams.

Up until his team’s match against RCB, his old team, for which he played in two separate periods (2012–17 and 2021–23), Harshal has taken 17 wickets in 11 IPL games for PBKS. This placed him second on the list of top wicket-takers.

Harshal Patel gave a bizarre but in-depth response when asked if taking wickets has been a particularly difficult challenge this season. He went into great length about how he uses the slower delivery. He was confident enough to acknowledge that he could execute those kinds of deliveries with extreme skill, especially his slower deliveries, if he felt that a particular variation was coming out of the hands well enough. In the past, he had occasionally believed that he could take a lot of wickets in a single over.

Well-known for his cunning off-cutters, which have been known to outsmart many hitters over time, he said that his top priority was timing the release of his variations to coincide with moments when he believed the batters would be forced to make an error. Because of his “USP” of being a consistent wicket-taker, he actually disclosed that getting wickets was never a problem for him—stopping the run flow was the true problem.

I can take two or three wickets in an over if I am bowling well and have specific deliveries that are going well for me, especially the slower balls. Setting up those slower balls correctly and hitting them when I know the hitter might make a mistake and I have a better chance of forcing an error is all that matters to me.

Thus, getting wickets hasn’t been tough. Since scooping up wickets has always been my USP and it’s a part of my game that I’ve been working on, it gets difficult when I have to contain,” Harshal Patel told ESPNCricinfo.

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Harshal Patel even talked about how he discovered the method for suffocating hitters and how many deft moves were needed to pull it out. He said that even before the season began, he had been working to improve his competency.

He was quite serious when he admitted that there have been times when his output has fallen short of his expectations. However, he also stated that he wanted to catch up to Indian pace bowling maestro Jasprit Bumrah, who has been steadily surpassing Harshal in the number of wickets taken and has been as economical with his use of the ball as possible during this IPL.

“I feel like I’ve figured out what it takes to shut down batters when I need to, but there are a lot of skill-related factors as well. I’ve been steadily honing such abilities, even before the season. Although I haven’t been able to do it consistently in the game, I’m headed in the right direction, and when it all comes together, I want to be as good as someone like Jasprit Bumrah. Bowlers often go for nine or ten overs, but in this IPL, only one fast bowler—Bumrah—goes for less than six most of the time. I want to improve so I can compete with him!” yelled Harshal.