Ranchi: Harshal Patel, who impressed one and all with his heroics on his debut as India hammered New Zealand by 7 wickets in the 2nd T20I in Ranchi, feels the secret behind his success was all about realising his limitations and fulfilling his true potential.
Harshal Patel had a dream international debut for Men in Blue, picking up 2 wickets and giving away just 25 runs to star in India’s seven-wicket series-clinching win over New Zealand in the second T20I on Friday. He was also adjudged ‘Man of the Match’ for his performance.
“I knew that I could play at the highest level. I could do well at the highest level with the ball and with the bat as well,” Harshal said in the post-match virtual media conference.
“I was driven constantly to get better and actualise that potential. I never at any moment felt that the dream is sort of running away from me.” he added.
Harshal rarely lost control as he executed his slower balls and Yorkers superbly. Harshal took the wickets of a well-settled Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips in the crucial middle overs and restricted the Kiwis to 154. Harshal revealed that he realised his limitations after the grind in domestic cricket and worked on his true potential.
“Being a fast bowler you want to bowl fast. But then I realised that my speed ceiling is probably at 135kph, and if I’m really in very good rhythm I can probably clock close to 140.
But I will never be able to hold consistently at higher than 140. So that’s something I realised, and then I started working on other things, other skills that I needed to do well at this level,” he said.
🎥 🎥 Congratulations to @HarshalPatel23 who is set to make his #TeamIndia debut. 👏 👏@Paytm #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/n9IIPXFJQ7
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 19, 2021
Harshal also realised that he had a massive lateral flexion, so he worked on his angles to become a skillful bowler, something he learnt the hard way in domestic cricket.
“I don’t have a biomechanically perfect action. I have a massive lateral flexion at the point of delivery, so I always wanted to correct that because we are told that you know you’re more injury-prone if you don’t correct that. But what I realised after playing seven-eight years of domestic cricket is that lateral flexion gave me an angle which was difficult for the batters to line up to.” The 30-year-old said.
“That made my slow balls more effective. If I talk about red-ball cricket, that big angle into the batter allows me to bowl outswingers from a very tight line and beat the batters when it straightens. I started looking at that as an advantage,” he added.
A terrific bowling performance on debut 💪@HarshalPatel23 wins the Man of the Match award for his splendid spell of 2/25 👏👏#TeamIndia #INDvNZ @Paytm pic.twitter.com/BvRz4qmL5Z
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 19, 2021
Every top-level athlete knows what their limitations are, but few acknowledge it as openly as Harshal did. Harshal also has an understanding of his angles and said he worked hard to convert his weaknesses into his strengths, which eventually paid off.
“Angles have always been a big part of my game, and I use them to good effect. I think that’s another thing I realised that I can add to my repertoire without trying too many different things. So I bowl yorkers from close to the stumps, some from the corner of the crease and that has a massive impact on where the ball lands and where the batter plays the ball. It’s a massive advantage and a massive weapon for me,” he concluded.
