Harshal Patel opens up on Virat Kohli’s priceless advice

The first Indian bowler to claim 30 plus wickets in one season of the IPL, Harshal Patel opened up about Virat Kohli’s game-changing advice to him. Faf will be the third captain in a span of just five months that will witness the bowling supremacy of Harshal Patel.

His IPL career took flight under Virat Kohli while Rohit led him in his international debut. Faf will be leading the Challengers in IPL 2022. With all said and done about the fearsome bowling unit of the Challengers, Harshal will be a crucial figure for RCB as they take the field for the fifteenth edition of the tournament.

Kohli and Rohit has played a career-defining role in Harshal’s meteoric rise despite a late bloom. Harshal was whacked for 37 runs in a single over by Ravindra Jadeja. However, Virat Kohli never gave up hope and continued egging him on in a journey that offered promise.

During RCB’s unbox event, Harshal was heard quoting to Hiundustan Times, “I have been lucky in the sense that be in Rohit or Virat, they have been very open, very generous in the freedom that they have allowed me to express myself and my skill. At no point have they told me that this is what you have to do and they have always given me that option, told me that 'you know your game and what to do in each and every situation. You're not going to be successful all the time but we are going to back you nevertheless.' So that is the confidence I'm sure Faf too is going to show in me and that makes my job a little easier to deal with different captains.”

He further added, “After I got hit for 37 in that CSK game, Virat came up to me and said 'You brought us back into the game by picking up three wickets in the last three overs. You got hit for 37… it happens. You put yourself in difficult situations, you can fail. But if you don't put yourself there, you are never going to be a valuable player.”

Purple Patel concluded by saying, “So yes, he understands that aspect of pressure situations, that it can sometimes cause failures. And he has been very supportive of it. Even after that, when I have done well or haven't, he has been pretty consistent in his approach. So those are the things that are a sign of a great leader and he will continue to be a great leader."