Punjab Kings’ left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar, who single-handedly decimated Royal Challengers Bangalore with his fantastic three-wicket haul, said the secret to his success was just bowling in the right areas without being overawed by the occasion.
Making his first appearance of the season for PBKS, Harpreet returned exemplary figures of 3/19, with his scalps including big fishes Virat Kohli (35), Glenn Maxwell (0) and AB de Villiers (3). It was undoubtedly the finest hour of his cricketing career so far.
Harpreet believes keeping things simple worked wonders for him against RCB’s high-flying top-order. "My plan was to bowl in the right areas even if I got hit, it wasn't a problem as long as I got the right line and length. I was trying to pull the batsmen out of the crease by varying my length. That, I suppose, helped me get three big wickets on Friday." the youngster highlighted.
Although Harpreet conceded he had some butterflies in the stomach going into the match as he hadn’t had much game-time in the three years he has been with the franchise. "Yes, there was pressure. (Over the years) I have taken a lot of pressure. It's natural that when you don't perform, pressure gets to you. Today, I had made up my mind to just play freely. Whatever happens, we'll see, but I won't take stress," asserted Harpreet.
The Harpreet show got on the road with skipper Kohli’s dismissal, who danced down the track only to be beaten all ends up and lose his leg-stump. Maxwell was outfoxed first ball, failing to cover for the spin to witness his off-stump knocked back. Harpreet then planted the cherry on the cake, having dangerman de Villiers spooning a catch to cover.
The tweaker had his plans in place for de Villiers as well. "For De Villiers, my plan was to keep the ball away from him, so that he comes out and plays my deliveries. The ball was gripping the wicket, so that's why I'd kept a slip also. I wanted to send a dot ball but luckily got a wicket. I'm blessed," Harpreet explained, capping off his reflections on a night to remember.
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