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IPL 2021 | 'He made big impact in my confidence,' Harshal Patel opens up on Virat Kohli's captaincy

There have been a lot of talks about Virat Kohli’s style of captaincy and how he manages to get the best out of his players. Most of the time, critics have called his methods wrong or too pressurising, but Kohli has got direct support from one of his teammates at the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, RCB’s Harshal Patel has explained Kohli’s ways of doing things and motivating people around him to do good. Taking his personal reference, Patel recalled how a text from Kohli after he was traded to the RCB made a huge boost to his confidence knowing that the team will be behind him in the 14th edition of the IPL.

“The moment I was traded, Virat sent me a message, “welcome back, you are going to play here”. That made a big impact in my confidence and I realised this is a team where I can finally showcase all my skills,” Patel said to HT. 

Harshal Patel also said that Kohli gives space to his bowlers and don’t come hard at them knowing that there will be some days when batsmen will get at the top and dictate terms. He said that Kohli discusses just ways on how to stay on the plans and best possible mindset after a bad game and it gives huge confidence to bowler like him.

“He gives you the space to do your thing. Even if you don’t execute at times he understands better than anybody that on a batter’s day, if they get hold of a bowler, you are going to go for runs. Whenever we are unable to execute, or we stray from our plans, when we sit for the review the only talk is about what do we do to stay on the path, how do we stay in the mindset to execute more often than not. We don’t let any other noise come into that environment,” Patel added.

Notably, Harshal Patel was the leading wicket-taker in the IPL 2021 till the halfway stage before the Covid-19 outbreak in bubbles led to the postponement of the tournament. But, at the same time, he conceded runs with an economy rate of 9.17 runs per over and once he was plundered for 37 runs in an over by Ravindra Jadeja.

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India to send white-ball team to Sri Lanka even as Kohli and Co. prepare for Test series in England

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Rahul Dravid predicts a 3-2 series win for India against England in the upcoming series

Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid feels that India has a realistic chance of winning the upcoming Test series in England slated to be played in August-September. Dravid is the last Indian captain under whom India won a Test series in England way back in 2007. India have won a few Tests here and there but a series victory has eluded them in the last 14 years. Despite a promising performance in 2018, they ended up on the losing side by a 1-4 margin. The former Indian skipper and the Director of the National Cricket Academy, Rahul Dravid feels that it will be a “tough contest overall and a great series to watch. "I really do think India have a very good chance this time," Dravid was quoted as saying during a webinar organised by Live Aid India which is a trust to help people suffering from COVID-19. "There's no question about their [England's] bowling. Whatever bowling attack England put on the park, especially their seam-bowling attack, is going to be fantastic. They have a lot of players to pick and choose from and that's going to be terrific,” he added. There is no doubt about the fact that England have a top-class bowling line-up. However, their batting line-up looks brittle and was found out even in the series in 2018. It was Sam Curran’s all-round heroics all through the series which helped England recover from precarious situations and eventually win the series 4-1. However, the top order failed on most occasions which clearly indicates that a lot of work needs to be done in the top half of their batting order. "But if you look at their top six or top seven, you really think of one great batsman, a world-class batsman who is Joe Root. Obviously, Ben Stokes is another one, who is a good all-rounder, but for some reason [R] Ashwin seems to do well against him. And that should be an interesting contest. I know he's done well against him [Stokes] in India, but it'll still be an interesting subplot to the series,” Dravid said. "But I just think India will be well-prepared, have the confidence from Australia, there's lot of belief in the squad. A couple of players have been to England a few times, there's a lot of experience in the batting order this time around, so this is probably our best chance, maybe say 3-2 to India,” the former Indian skipper further added. Dravid also felt that not many teams get a chance to get acclimatised to the conditions for a full month. Following the ICC World Test Championship final, India will get a month’s time to get adjusted to the seaming conditions of England. "After the WTC final, they're going to be in England for a whole month before the Test series starts. I don't think any team has had that kind of time to prepare for a Test series,” he added. The Indian squad is slated to leave for England on 2nd June. They will first play against New Zealand in the Test Championship final. A few intra-squad games will follow before the start of the five-match Test series in England. "I think India will play really well in England this time," Dravid said. "It's a great opportunity we've got. After the WTC final, they're going to be in England for a whole month before the Test series starts. I don't think any team has had that kind of time to prepare for a Test series as India will have this time so that surely should be a great advantage,” Dravid said. In England, if there's one thing you've always got to respect, it's the conditions. It's slightly different from say an Australia or India. To some extent you sort of get the feeling [as batsmen] that you're never set. Even if you're set and you get a good start, batting on 30, 40, 50, things can change very quickly, the weather can change, the ball can swing even after it's 40-50 overs old,” Dravid further quipped.