3 reasons why RCB should drop Harshal Patel in IPL 2023

In one of the craziest finishes in IPL history, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Harshal Patel failed to run out Ravi Bishnoi at the non-striker's end for backing up too much while defending one run off the last ball.

Harshal ran in and when he realized Bishnoi was backing up too far at the non-striker's end, the RCB pacer paused but was unable to dislodge the bail. He attempted to make amends for his error by throwing the ball back at the stumps, and his throw was successful. Despite the fact that Bishnoi was clearly out of his crease, the dismissal did not count.

The last-wicket pair of Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi then scrambled for a bye as wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik couldn’t gather the ball cleanly. LSG successfully mounted a stiff target of 213, which once again raises the question regarding RCB's bowling woes.

But the major questions were regarding the form of senior bowler Harshal Patel, who has been lackluster not only in the IPL 2023 but also in the previous IPL as he looked off-color most of the time.

Harshal Patel's stock went sky high when he won the Purple Cap in IPL 2021, where he picked up 32 wickets in the tournament. Most of his wickets came in death overs, where his variations proved to be too hot to handle for the batters.

But since then, he has lost his mojo and has struggled to find his rhythm, thus often finding himself on the expensive side.

Here's a list of 3 reasons why RCB should drop Harshal Patel from playing XI in their upcoming matches.

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#1 Harshal Patel has been expensive

RCB bought Harshal Patel back into the mega auction for ₹10.75 crore. They shelled out almost 10 percent of their allotted budget to strengthen their death over bowling, citing his exploits in the previous two seasons. He was phenomenal in the latter phase of the innings and played an important role in RCB reaching the playoffs.

But his performances in the ongoing season don't justify his price tag. His economy in those overs was on the higher side, not only in the IPL 2022 where he conceded runs at an economy rate of 9.33 but also in this season where it was 12.50.

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#2 Struggling with his lines and lengths

It's not difficult to guess that his greatest strength has been his off-cutters. But since he does not offer too much pace, line and length become the most important factors.

In IPL 2020-21, he bowled 48.2 percent of his total off-cutters in good length areas, and only 7.1 percent were pitched short. But since IPL 2022, he has bowled only 31.6 percent of his off-cutter at good length and 18.4 percent were short, which is one of the reasons why he started leaking runs.

It is clearly visible that, with his pace, short balls have not been that effective. In fact, batters have ample time to adjust and play an attacking shot off his bowling.

Also, more often than not, he fails to land his yorkers, and batters have started to pick up the back of the hand and loopy deliveries these days, and with his pace, the margin of error is quite small.

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#3 RCB needs a hit-the-deck bowler

If we look at the RCB structure, the need for a hit-the-deck bowler cries out loud.

They have options in left-arm fast bowlers David Willey and Wayne Parnell in the playing XI, leg spinners Karn Sharma and Wanindu Hasaranga, new ball proponent Mohammad Siraj, an off-spin option in Glenn Maxwell, and a left-arm spinner in Shahbaz Ahmed.

They cover all the bases considering the match-ups, but they don't have a middle-over enforcer in the form of a hit-the-deck bowler.

RCB have used Harshal Patel in that role, but he has been lackluster in that phase so far. Although they do have Avinash Singh, who can hurry the batsmen with his sheer pace, although he lacks experience.