Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Harshal Patel has left the IPL bio-bubble after his team’s seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians following the death of a family member.
Harshal was representing RCB in their IPL 2022 match against MI on Saturday when he received the tragic news. News agency PTI has learned that Harshal exited the bubble after getting to know about his sister’s death right after the game against Mumbai Indians.
Will Harshal Patel Play Today?
Harshal has been the star performer for RCB over the past couple of seasons and took two wickets on Saturday night in the team’s seven-wicket win over MI.
“Unfortunately, Harshal had to leave the bio-bubble due to a death in his family. It was his sister. He did not take the team bus back to Mumbai from Pune,” said an IPL source.
“He will be rejoining the bubble before the next game against CSK on April 12.” The 31-year-old has played eight T20Is after making his debut last year.
Although he is expected to join the camp before the game against R Jadeja led CSK, in order to re-enter the IPL bubble, he will need to undergo a minimum quarantine of three days.
During the last win against Mumbai Indians, the Haryana pacer bowled impressively well and finished with brilliant figures of 2 for 23 from his quota of four overs. In 4 games of IPL 2022, Harshal has picked up as many as 6 wickets at an amazing economy of 5.50.
He was the leading wicket-taker in IPL 2021 with an outstanding tally of 32 wickets from just 15 matches at a fine economy of less than 9 that included a fifer against Mumbai Indians. This was the main reason why the Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Harshal for a hefty price of INR 10.75 Crores.
Possible Harshal Patel’s Replacement
The Royal Challengers Bangalore are expected to play Siddarth Kaul in place of Harshal on Tuesday. In another important update, the Aussie pace bowling duo of Josh Hazlewood and Jason Behrendorff have already joined the RCB camp upon completing their quarantine.
Hazlewood is very much likely to replace David Wiley in the RCB playing 11 for the today IPL match against CSK.
