Batters try to anticipate variations, my job is to stay one step ahead of them: Harshal Patel

RAJKOT: India pacer Harshal Patel on Thursday said that he is not worried that batters have started anticipating his variations and just wants to focus on the execution of his plans in order to stay one step ahead of them.

In the first T20I in Delhi, Rassie van der Dussen had smashed Harshal for three sixes and a four in an over to turn the game around. After the match, the Proteas had said that post the first two sixes, he knew Harshal would turn to his slower balls.

"People have been trying to anticipate for the past two years. To be very honest, with every bowler, the longer they play, the more the opposition will realise what their strengths are, what the patterns are, and try to adapt to it. But as a bowler, my job is to stay one step ahead of batters," Harshal said on the eve of the fourth T20I against South Africa.

"At the end of the day, you can have 15 different plans, but on a particular day, in a pressure situation, if you don't go out and execute with confidence, everything doesn't really fall in place. So my focus has always been on how to read the game better in that particular moment and how to execute the best possible delivery at that point in time," he added.

Sharing the formula behind his meteoric rise in T20s especially in the last couple of years, the 31-year-old said he doesn't bother much about his individual speed and relies on variations, which have been delivering results to the pacer. IANS

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