To Virat, for sure, he is not someone who’s going to muscle you – Harshal Patel on slower balls

Harshal Patel has gone from strength to strength throughout recent years, and in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Harshal expressed various facets of bowling a slower delivery and how he would utilize it differently against Virat Kohli.

Harshal Patel has gone from strength to strength throughout recent years. With consistent performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the 31-year-old has turned into a steady component in the Indian T20I side. 

With the 2022 T20 World Cup just around the corner and Jasprit Bumrah dropped from the squad due to injury, all eyes will be on Harshal. He has been known as a bowler who can consistently bowl the slower ball to fox the players. 

In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Harshal expressed various facets of bowling a slower delivery and how he would utilize it differently against Virat Kohli.

“To Virat, for sure, he is not someone who’s going to muscle you. These slower deliveries are more effective when people are trying to muscle you. For someone like Virat, whenever I’ve played against him, he steps out and makes it a full toss and plays it through midwicket,”

Harshal said.

“If he gets good bat on the ball, he is going to get a boundary between long-on and midwicket or he is going to get a double. And when someone plays that delivery like that, you have to adapt. But when someone is going deep in the crease and just trying to slog you over long-on or deep midwicket or down the ground, that’s where the slower ball becomes much more effective.”

The upcoming T20 World Cup will be played in Australia on October 16. The tournament high-octane clash between Pakistan and India will play on October 23 at the MCG while the fans are eagerly waiting for the clash.

India Squad for World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh. 

Standby Players: Mohammad Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.

Pakistan Squad for World Cup: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir. 

Standby Players: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani.