IPL 2022: Will definitely take seven off an over at death, says Harshal Patel

Pune, April 9 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Harsha Patel said he would happily take seven runs in an over from the death overs phase in the IPL 2022 match against Mumbai Indians. In the final over of Mumbai's innings, Patel was close to unplayable due to his slower balls and mixing them with short or full length.

Against Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai's best batter, Patel outwitted him with the back of length slower ball, followed by another full slower ball outside off which beat the right-handed batter. On the final ball, Yadav clubbed a full toss over long-on to take Mumbai past 150, with Patel finishing with 2/23 in his four overs.

"I will definitely take seven (runs) off an over at the death, especially against a quality batter like Surya. The balls were drifting in the air and that is why they came out the way they did, made them a bit more effective," said Patel in a mid-innings chat with broadcasters Star Sports.

In the 18th over, Patel got a slower full toss to dip and hit Yadav near the chest, causing Bangalore to take a review. But replays showed that the ball would have clipped the leg-stump on the umpire's call.

Asked about his work on controlling the arm speed while bowling slower deliveries, Patel remarked, "I just have to control my arm speed. If you control your slower balls well, you can drop the arm speed, but the batsmen can spot it, so I keep my arm speed fast."

Patel signed off by saying that dew might not make an appearance due to the breeze blowing in across directions at the stadium.

"The wicket is getting better and the score doesn't look too much. We just need to play well in the powerplay and not lose early wickets. There is no dew now as of now because there is a bit of strong breeze blowing across the ground. I don't suspect there will be a lot of dew."