Every time I feel the pressure is the most, I go to Harshal Patel: Faf du Plessis
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis has explained what makes medium-pacer Harshal Patel a trump card of their side after his incredible performances in the death overs helped them in making it to the Qualifier 2 with an impressive 14-run win over the Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator of IPL 2022 at the Eden Gardens.
Heaping praise on Patel’s ability to deliver under crunch situations, Faf said that the Gujarat bowler is his go-to bowler whom he turns toward whenever he feels the pressure. Patel finished with figures of 1/25 from his four overs and while he picked the only wicket of Marcus Stoinis, he was very economical with the ball in hand.
A special card you pull out: Faf du Plessis on Harshal Patel
“He’s a joker in the pack, isn’t he? A special card you pull out,” Du Plessis told Star Sports after the game.
“More than anything, it’s the time that he bowls. He’s a high-pressure-time bowler. Every single time I feel the pressure is the most, I go to him. He has even asked for it. In one of my first conversations with him, he said, ‘I want to bowl the important overs.’ That confidence speaks for itself. So, today to bowl the important overs and especially that second-last [third-last] one, to change the game almost singlehandedly, [it was] awesome”, he added.
With a well-set skipper KL Rahul and the hard-hitter Stoinis out in the middle, LSG seemed to be cruising towards an easy win with just 41 runs needed off 18 deliveries and that was when Gujarat pacer was given the ball. Even though he gave a wide and bowled another wide delivery which went for four beating the keeper, the medium-pacer held his nerves and accounted for the Australian after deceiving him twice. Eventually, Harshal ended up conceding just eight runs from that over.
That over proved to be the turning point and LSG skipper was dismissed in the very next over by Josh Hazlewood with the pressure of matching up with the steep asking rate. Patel then went on to concede just nine runs in the final over, but a victory was already a foregone conclusion for LSG by then.
