'He will be one of Rohit's Trump Cards'- Sunil Gavaskar lauds massive praise for new Indian fast bowler

India leveled the T20I series 2-2 against South Africa after trailing 2-0 at one point in time. Despite not winning the series, there were many positives to take from. The likes of Ishan Kishan, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, and Yuzvendra Chahal showed great character when needed.

One player, however, who has been doing incredibly well since the past year and did justice to his selection is Harshal Patel. The legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar holds the same thought about the player. Speaking about the Bangalore pacer, Gavaskar said that he would be one of the most important weapons in Rohit Sharma’s arsenal.

“He will be one of the trumps cards because you have Bhuvneshwar, Shami and Bumrah as well. Brilliant for a skipper to have someone like him to depend on, He can come in and bowl maybe even in the powerplay where people are now going with a change of pace. So yes, he certainly should be part of the group,” he said.

The Little Master was in praise of the Gujarat-born bowler after being massively impressed by his improvement. Speaking on the same, he said, “He has been excellent. Nobody skills in the death overs with the slower balls...but I feel from game 3 he found his right length and picked up wickets and kept the pressure on the South Africans. He has all the skills as an all-rounder bowler and is a big asset to the team and handles pressure very well and is a clear thinker under pressure.”

Harshal Patel was bought back by the Bangalore team in Indian T20 League for a massive Rs 10.75 Crore. Although he could not match his sensational performance of the past year, he was very good and returned with 19 wickets in 15 games at an economy of 7.66. In the recently concluded India- South Africa series, he was the highest wicket-taker, having taken seven wickets in four matches.