Harshal Patel

Harshal is an Indian cricketer playing for the national team in Twenty20 internationals (T20I). He plays for Gujarat and Haryana in domestic competitions, and for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.

Early life:

Patel took 23 wickets at an impressive average of in the 2008-09 Under-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy. He later made his one-day debut for Gujarat in 2009–10.

His family had planned to move to the USA, but his brother Tapan Patel ensured that he stayed in India for the sake of his cricket dreams. As a result, Harshal was named in the squad for the 2010 Under – 19 World Cup in New Zealand. He was among the 3 players from that squad to score an IPL contract. It was with Mumbai Indians.

Ignored by the Gujarat selectors for the first-class side, Harshal moved to Haryana and made an immediate impact in his debut Ranji Trophy season in 2011–12. He was signed on by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2012 Indian Premier League.

Career:

• T20I debut: on 19 November 2021 for India vs New Zealand

In the 2012 IPL auction, Patel was bought by the RCB. In January 2018, Patel was bought by DD (now DC) in the 2018 IPL auction. In January 2021, he was traded by the DC to the RCB prior to the 14th IPL season.

On 9 April 2021, in the first match of IPL 2021 while playing for the RCB, he took 5 wicket-haul against MI. On 25 April 2021, Patel bowled the joint most expensive over in the history of IPL. While playing against CSK, he gave away 37 runs in the 20th over while bowling to Ravindra Jadeja.

On 13 October 2021, he was selected among 8 net bowlers for India national cricket team for ICC Men’s T20 world cup.

Major Achievements:

• Harshal Patel is first bowler to claim a 5-wicket haul against MI in IPL. This is his best bowling figures in the IPL.
• He is also the first ever player to take a 5 wicket-haul against MI in the IPL. His 5 wicket-haul also became the third best bowling figures by an uncapped Indian player in the IPL.
• On 26 September 2021, playing against MI, Patel became the third bowler to take a hat-trick (after Praveen Kumar and Samuel Badree for RCB). He took the wickets of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar, and finished with the figures of 4/17 in 3.1 overs.
• By the end of IPL 2021, he scored 32 wickets, making him the highest Indian wicket taker in a single season and joint-most with Dwayne Bravo.