Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Harshal Patel bowled a match-winning spell in the side's opening game against Mumbai Indians on Friday. He took a five-wicket haul in the match -- becoming the first bowler in the history of the tournament to end with five wickets in an innings against the Mumbai Indians.
Patel ended with figures of 5/27 and bowled a brilliant final over, where he took three wickets while conceding only one run.
In the post-match press conference, Harshal revealed that he was told that he would be bowling at the death way ahead of the first match of the tournament.
"When I was traded, they told me the sort of role I will be playing in this team. When we gathered for our first camp, there was clear instruction that I was going to bowl at least two overs at the death. That gave me clarity and I worked on my skill to develop plans to face the battles in death overs against various teams," Patel said.
"It (the pitch) suited my kind of bowling and it was probably the reason why Virat left my three overs at the death. As the ball got older, it started reversing a bit, so it's easier to execute your yorkers. I know that my slower balls have been my biggest strength for years now, yorkers is something I am working on. I'm happy I could execute that."
The RCB have been one of the three franchises in the tournament (among current teams) to yet lift the title, and Patel said that he is wary of the 'pendulum'-like nature of the tournament where things can "change very quickly."
"You want to start well. It makes a massive impact on how you go about the tournament in coming games. This is my 10th season in IPL and I know it's a pendulum; things can change very quickly for good and for bad. All you have to do is focus on your planning and take one game at a time, not get too overconfident. If you have a bad day at the field, you can't get too depressed, you have to move on very quickly," said Patel.
Talking about his yorkers, the right-arm pacer said that he has been working on the skill over the past two years.
"Not really, I have been bowling that for two years now. It's jkust that when you don't get wickets off those deliveries, people don't tend to see that the variation is not as effective, you don't get wickets. When you get wicket, people notice that," said the 30-year-old, who was named the Man of the Match in the game.
