‘It felt like betrayal’: Harshal Patel reveals time when he felt cheated by IPL franchises

Harshal Patel has spoken out on the rejection he faced in the early stages of his career in the Indian Premier League (IPL). During an interview with Gaurav Kapur on the YouTube show ‘Breakfast with the Champions’, the Indian pacer revealed how he had been betrayed by several franchises at the beginning of his IPL journey. The 31-year-old pacer was awarded the purple cap in the IPL 2021 season after scalping 32 wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Before his breakthrough season in 2021, Patel struggled a lot to get noticed by the franchises. He confessed that he had been betrayed by three or four franchises. “There were three-four people from different franchises who said we’d gonna bid for you but no one did. At that time, it felt like a betrayal”, the pacer said. He also added that he got mired in dark thoughts because of those incidents and started to question his own capability. It took much time for him to get out of his low phase and move on again. While speaking about his IPL journey with Kapur, Patel said, “I just wanted someone to raise the paddle for me. It’s not about the money, I just wanted to play.” Watch the clip here:

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The Haryana Ranji team skipper made his IPL debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2012. He spent his initial six years there but did not manage to make an impact. After losing his regular first-team spot, Patel moved to Delhi Capitals in 2018 for his base price of Rs 20 lakh. But he got to play only 7 matches for Delhi in his first couple of seasons there and picked up 9 wickets. After displaying an impressive all-round performance in domestic cricket in the 2019-20 season, Patel got retained by DC in the 2020 IPL auction. But his appearance was limited to 5 games in that season also. Then in 2021, playing for RCB once again, Patel finally made his name in the tournament. The pacer got 32 wickets under his belt and was awarded with the Purple Cap last year. He was bought back by RCB in the latest edition of IPL for a whopping price of Rs 10.75 crore. Patel has already bagged 10 wickets in 8 matches in the ongoing season.

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