‘Too early to come to a conclusion’ – Punjab Kings not worried about Harshal Patel’s form

Harshal Patel. (Photo Source: Jio Cinema)

Punjab Kings signed Harshal Patel for INR 11.75 crore in the IPL auction. However, the pacer has failed to live up to the potential, leaking 47 and 45 runs respectively in his four overs against Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He has been entrusted to bowl at the death in the ongoing IPL 2024 season but the pacer has failed to deliver, which has invited a lot of criticism his way.

However, the Punjab Kings management is not too bothered about that and expects the pacer to bounce back in the remaining matches. Ahead of taking on Lucknow Super Giants, PBKS bowling coach Sunil Joshi mentioned that it’s too early to come to a conclusion and added that the 33-year-old is actively working on his economy rate.

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“When you go to take wickets, your mindset will be that the batsmen will take the chance, so we people give them that opportunity, so they have that option with them,” Joshi was quoted as saying by India Today.

“It is just the start of the season, it is still too early to come to a conclusion, but he is working on his economy rate, and he is our main top wicket-taker when it comes to death overs, so when you are giving runs in the death, obviously you will look to take wickets also,” he added.

Notably, Punjab defeated Delhi Capitals by four wickets in their opening match of the season but lost to RCB in their next match. Their bowling looks more or less balanced with Kagiso Rabada and Harpreet Brar in good form but the batters have failed to make a mark. Sam Curran did well against Delhi but the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma are yet to come to the party.

Skipper Dhawan has hit 45 runs in the last match but the veteran batter needs to work on his strike rate while Liam Livingstone will have to work on capitalising his starts to help Punjab qualify for the playoffs of IPL 2024.