Mumbai : Royal Challengers Bangalore’s charismatic pace bowler Harshal Patel has indicated that he should be fit for the team’s Eliminator game against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Garden in Kolkata on May 25, after suffering a split webbing in the game against Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium on May 19.The 31-year-old had copped a nasty cut on his right hand’s webbing while fielding and it started bleeding profusely. Patel was quickly checked upon by RCB’s physio and the pacer headed back to the dressing room to get the webbing stitched. The bowler did not take any further part in the match against Gujarat Titans as RCB went on to win by eight wickets.
With RCB securing a playoffs berth after Mumbai Indians defeated Delhi Capitals to deny the Rishabh Pant-led side a last-four slot, Patel’s importance to the Faf du Plessis-led side cannot be understated.He was the Purple Cap winner in IPL 2021, picking up 32 wickets in 15 matches and this season Patel has a total of 18 scalps from 13 games. He is on the threshold of a century of IPL wickets. More than the wickets, he has been extremely economical in his spells (7.68) and requires just four scalps to make it 100 IPL wickets.Disclosing how he suffered the injury, Patel told RCB that, “When I caught that ball on short extra cover, I split my webbing on the right hand.
I got a couple of stitches which should come off in three to four days… I think I will be ready to be a part of it (Eliminator).”Patel disguising his variations beautifully is the reason why the RCB pace bowler has been performing so well in the last couple of IPL season, and he got the seal of approval from none other than Sachin Tendulkar.Speaking on his Youtube channel recently, the legend had labelled Patel as one of the most potent bowlers in the death overs.”I think that he is one of the leading bowlers in the country when it comes to bowling in the death overs,” Tendulkar opined recently.
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