IND vs NZ 2021: "Had a massive impact on my career" - Harshal Patel reveals career-changing advice from AB de Villiers

On a day when Harshal Patel's memorable debut coincided with AB de Villiers' emotional retirement, the Indian pacer revealed a piece of career-changing advice from his former teammate at the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Harshal Patel was speaking to the press after his spell of 2/25 won India the second T20I against New Zealand in Ranchi.

He hailed AB de Villiers for having a "massive impact" on his career. The 30-year-old disclosed that he had recently asked the South African for advice on limiting expensive overs. AB de Villiers asked him not to lose heart when a batter hits his good deliveries and instead "force the batsman to hit your good deliveries only".

Harshal Patel revealed:

"AB has had a massive impact on my career. I have always been a silent observer of him. Recently when we were starting our campaign in the UAE I asked him, 'How do I reduce my big overs? I have bowled 12-15 even 20-run overs in the IPL so how should I reduce those?' So he told me, 'When a batsman hits your good delivery, you shouldn't change that. You should constantly force the batsman to hit your good deliveries only. If you get hit once on a good delivery then if you change it, the batsman is already expecting that.' That is something that stayed with me throughout the second leg of IPL and will stay with me throughout my career."

AB de Villiers retired from all forms of cricket with over 20,000 runs across the three formats and the IPL. One of the bonafide geniuses of the game said on Friday that the "flame no longer burns so brightly" in his heart for the sport. This also confirmed the end of his 10-season long partnership with the RCB.

Unfortunately for him and his fans, the franchise's dream of winning the elusive title didn't materialize this year either. Despite Harshal Patel's Purple Cap-winning performance, RCB came fourth in IPL 2021.

"Angles are a big part of my bowling" - Harshal Patel

In the virtual press conference, Harshal Patel also talked about his under-appreciated skill of using the crease to create uneasy angles for batters. He explained how a simple switch between bowling wide of the crease and closer to stumps can cut out some regions for batters. Harshal Patel added:

"Angles are a big part of my bowling because, to give an example, if you bowl a fourth-stump line from close to the stumps, it remains a fourth-stump line but if you bowl from the corner of the crease it still comes in for the batter and sort of becomes difficult to hit through the offside. So angles have always been a big part of my game and I use them to good effect. I think it's another thing that I can add to my repertoire without trying to do too many different things."

The two wickets in Ranchi, both of them effectively using the above skill, also won Harshal Patel the Player of the Match award on debut.