‘Not a lot of credit goes to him’: Gavaskar bowled over by India cricketer's performance in South Africa series

Harshal Patel's slower delivery that dismissed David Miller in the 3rd T20I caught the eye of former India captain Sunil Gavaskar. The legendary cricketer said Harshal doesn't get a lot of credit for the work he does with the ball.

Needing more than 110 runs in 10 overs with six wickets in hand against an Indian attack with its tail up, South Africa were down for sure but definitely not out, especially with David Miller still at the crease. Rishabh Pant, India's captain for these five T20Is knew this. He threw the ball to Harshal Patel, in search of a wicket, preferably Miller's. For Harshal's USP is prizing out wickets in the middle overs and bowling tight overs at the death. But he was up against a batter who had observed him closely during the IPL and had the better of him in the series so far.

India's Harshal Patel, center celebrates the dismissal of South Africa's David Miller, unseen during the third Twenty20 cricket match (AP)

The first five deliveries of the over went rather eventless. Something was about to happen. Patel knew it, Miller knew it, and the capacity crowd in Visakhapatnam knew it. And it did. Anticipating a big shot, Harshal bowled a brilliantly disguised slower ball on length, Miller who had given himself some room perhaps to free the offside was way early into his shot and ended up chipping it to the cover fielder. Miller had to depart and South Africa's hopes slowly faded away.

Harshal's slower delivery caught the eye of former India captain Sunil Gavaskar. "You saw the check shot, you saw the bottom hand coming off, that just tells you how deceived he was. To deceive a batsman who is in form, who has played you before, who knows that you have this slower delivery without any change of action, tells you that it was a real special delivery," he said on Star Sports after India won the match by 48 runs to stay alive in the five-match series.

The legendary cricketer said Harshal doesn't get a lot of credit for the work he does with the ball.

"Not a lot of credit goes to Harshal Patel. he's generally the guy who gets you those 2-3 crucial wickets, bowls his 4 overs for 30-35 and sometimes even less than that. He's been a wonderful addition to this Indian line-up. You've two quicks at the top in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Avesh Khan and then if you a Harshal Patel in the mix... And he can bat as well. I think that's a fantastic sign for Indian cricket," Gavaskar said.

Harshal had made his India debut after the T20 World Cup last November and more than six months into international cricket, the 31-year-old has 17 wickets in 11 games at an average of 19.52.

"To be honest, people have been trying to anticipate what I am bowling for the last two years (in IPL). With every bowler the longer they play, the opposition will realise what the bowler's strengths and patterns are."As a bowler, my job is to stay one step ahead of them. At the end of the day, you can have 15 plans but on a particular day in a pressure situation if you don't go out and execute with confidence, everything doesn’t fall in place." My focus is on trying to execute the best possible delivery at that point of time,” he said ahead of the fourth T20 against South Africa.