Four franchises promised to auction me but didn’t – Harshal Patel

Harshal Patel, the right-arm seamer with a big outswinger, has revealed that three to four people from different franchises promised him to auction for their franchises ahead of the IPL 2018 auction, but none of them kept their words. Speaking on Gaurav Kapur’s show Breakfast with Champions on YouTube, the bowler said he felt being cheated on by those liars.

After the auction, he wanted to be a valuable player striving for an entry on merit, rather than entering the auction with fake promises. Harshal says he wished to join any franchise with his potential that management should think, is necessary, for the team. According to the player, this change of mindset helped him go through critical times, and become an actual valuable bowler, known decently today.

“The ironic thing was that there were three-four people from different franchises who said we’d gonna bid for you but kisi ne nahi kiya [no one did]. At that time, it felt like a betrayal, yeh toh jhooth bole hain, dhokha hua hai mere saath [they lied to me, I felt cheated],”

That is a decision I made after the 2018 auction that I want to be a valuable player. When the team is named, I should be the automatic entry, that we need to feature his name. That drove all my decisions, my decision to take more risks on the field and my decision to be more expressive on the field,”

It must be noted Patel was then auctioned by Delhi Capitals for IPL 2018. He was traded by the blue side to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of the 14th edition of the extravaganza. In the ongoing season, he is once again representing the Bangalores.

Also, see:

PCB new central contracts to see multiple new faces