IPL 2021: RCB's Harshal Patel Reveals His Plan Against MI In The Death Overs

Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Harshal Patel, who became the first bowler to take a 5-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League history, said that being told by skipper Virat Kohli at the pre-season camp that he will bowl the death overs helped him get confidence and clarity.

"When we had gathered for the first camp, there was clear instruction to me that I am going to bowl at least two overs at the death," Patel told the media at a post-match virtual interaction.

Patel, in Friday's tournament opener, bowled three overs at the death after his first over earlier in the innings had cost him 15 runs.

His remaining three overs cost him just 12 and he took five wickets, including three in the last over.

"That gave me a lot of clarity and confidence to work on my skills and develop plans against the batters I'm going to face in the death overs in various teams. It made my preparation a lot more concise."

The right-arm pace bowler, who used yorker to good effect said that he had been practicing the yorkers for quite some time since slower balls alone don't help in death overs.

"My slower balls have been my biggest strength for almost 10 years now and the yorker is something I've been working on," he said.

"If you need to bowl in the death overs you definitely have to rely on the yorker. You can't just keep bowling length balls and slower balls, people are going to line that up. It's important to have that one delivery which can get the batsman off strike. It gives you options at the death.

"My yorker is something I've been bowling for a long time but I was not confident enough to take that into the game. But now, in the last 15-20 days I made sure I put myself in situations where I have to bowl a yorker and get confident at it."