"Knew these guys could hit 4 sixes" - Harshal Patel reveals mindset during last over vs West Indies in 2nd T20I

Team India pacer Harshal Patel opened up on what went through his mind while bowling the last over in the second T20I against the West Indies on Friday. Harshal admitted that he knew the Windies batters were capable of hitting four sixes in the last over. He, however, asserted that he was confident in his own ability.

West Indies needed 25 off the last over to win the second T20I in Kolkata. However, Rovman Powell struck the third and fourth balls for sixes to bring the equation down to 11 off two deliveries. Harshal held his nerve and bowled two good balls to finish off the match in India’s favor.

Reflecting on his performance, the pacer told bowling coach Paras Mhambrey in an interaction on bcci.tv:

“Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) had made my job easy. I only had to bowl two dot balls. I knew these guys could hit four sixes, it is not difficult for them. I wanted to bowl yorkers and keep Powell away from the strike because he was well set.”

Harshal continued:

“Two balls were not executed well and he got under it. We know how powerful they are and that was always on my mind. But I was confident of my execution and did not get confused at any point. Overall, I am quite happy with my performance.”

Before Harshal, Bhuvneshwar bowled a brilliant penultimate over, conceding only four runs. Asked if he had any specific plans in mind, the experienced bowler said:

“I had decided that I would not bowl slower balls to Powell. (Deepak) Chahar tried those in the previous over but the balls did not grip. I backed myself to bowl yorkers and luckily I managed to execute them well.”

Under pressure to retain his place in the team, the 32-year-old came up with an excellent bowling effort, conceding only 29 runs in his four overs.

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“Thought was to not give more than 9-10 runs” - Bhuvneshwar on bowling 19th over vs West Indies in 2nd T20I

Admitting that there was pressure on him as he ran in to bowl the 19th over, Bhuvneshwar stated that his thought process was to not concede more than nine to ten runs. He said:

“There was pressure bowling the penultimate over. West Indies needed 29 runs to win. My thought was to not give more than 9-10 runs because the probability of defending 15-20 in the last over is a good one. Luckily, the over went quite well and I conceded only 4. Whatever I tried - yorkers, slower bouncers - they were properly executed.”

Defending a total of 186, Team India won the second T20I by eight runs to clinch the three-match series with a game to spare.