Harshal revealed that former India pace bowling great Zaheer Khan was his mentor at the RCB back then and in a match he had asked Harshal to not bowl the slower delivery.
Harshal Patel is a well known name in the Royal Challengers Bangalore dressing room now. He took an IPL record 32 wickets in the 2021 season and that prompted the franchise to pay Rs 10.75 crore to get the player’s services back in the IPL mega auction earlier this year. Harshal is yet to touch the heights of last season in IPL 2022 but he has been doing a consistent job for his team in the death overs.
Harshal had started his career in the IPL with RCB in 2012, before moving on to other teams. During a conversation with cricket host Gaurav Kapur on his show ‘Breakfast with Champions’Harshal spoke about an incident from his initial years when he didn’t listen to the advice of a former India paceman and was hit for a six.
Harshal revealed that former India pace bowling great Zaheer Khan was his mentor at the RCB back then and in a match he had asked Harshal to not bowl the slower delivery but Harshal went ahead and bowled one and was hit for a six and it led to some tough words from Zaheer.
“We were playing in Pune and he had asked me not to bowl a slower delivery but I bowled one to Uthappa and he hit me for a six over mid-wicket. He walked up to me and among all the things that he said he also told me ‘I had asked you not to bowl the slower delivery’,” revealed Harshal.
The India T20 player also spoke about meeting Zaheer Khan last season and said that Zaheer asked him to not change much in his bowling as he was doing things fine.
Patel has picked up 11 wickets in 8 T20Is for India since making his debut last year in the series against New Zealand and on current form it looks like he could be part of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup later this year.
