IND vs AUS LIVE: Fit again Harshal Patel is raring to go once again as India hit the final stretch of games before the T20 World Cup. Having missed the last month or so due to injury, Harshal returns after a lengthy rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy. The 31-yead-old has added new strings to his bow in the meantime, practising with the new ball in the nets, something he rarely does in IPL. Follow India vs Australia live updates on Insidesport.IN
IND vs AUS LIVE: Death overs specialist Harshal Patel adds new string to his bow, practices with the new ball at NCA ahead of T20 World Cup – Check out
India’s death-over specialist Harshal Patel is evolving as per demands and put in work at the National Cricket Academy to add facets to his multi-dimensional play. Patel made it to the Indian side on the back of two stellar IPL seasons, before replicating the same on the international circuit with the same precision.
The 31-year-old has played the most T20s for India since the T20 World Cup last year and made it to the India T20 WC squad for the competition in Australia. The call-up was not without setbacks after Harshal raced against time to be fit, having missed the series vs West Indies and the Asia Cup.
During his time rehabilitating, Harshal Patel reveals that he worked on his new ball skills along with the slower balls and other variations. Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, the RCB superstar said, “I’ve also been working on my new-ball skills for a while. I started doing that mid-IPL. So, every time I’d go to practice, I’d take a new ball and start bowling with it because it’s good to have a skill and not need it than the other way round. It’s just something I’ve been working on and if I get an opportunity, for India or for RCB, I would love to do that.”
While Harshal will be expected to handle the middle overs burden for India, his added skillset of operating the new ball could add a further dimension to India’s attack. The Men in Blue currently rely on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah to get overs through the new ball and now the 31-year-old could also be in the mix.