Harshal Patel joins Gujarat for the upcoming domestic season after a prolonged gap of 14 years playing at Haryana.
Harshal Patel returns to his home state of Gujarat after 14 years with Haryana.
Harshal will be ready for Gujarat’s preseason practices after completing all the necessary legalities. The preseason begins later this month with a tri-series that also includes the state’s other two teams, Baroda and Saurashtra.
A circle is completed with Harshal’s return to Gujarat. He was born there, and after an outstanding Under-19 season, he made his List A debut for the team in 2008–09. However, he was unable to gain much traction in Gujarat and quickly moved to Haryana after returning from the 2010 Under-19 World Cup.
After making his first-class debut for Haryana in 2011–12, he has been an important part of their teams in all formats ever since. Harshal has taken 12 five-wicket hauls and 246 first-class wickets at an average of 24.02 in 74 games overall.
He played a key role in Haryana’s rise to prominence in white-ball cricket over the years and was a member of the team that won the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the first time in 2023–2024.
Harshal splits his time between Ahmedabad, where he resides, and the USA, where he has extended family. In between cricket responsibilities, Harshal felt he wanted to prioritise spending time with his young family, which is why he decided to switch teams.
“It was getting difficult for me to be away from the family for long periods of time,” Harshal said. “So I wanted to come back and see if I could finish my career here. Glad I got an opportunity to do that.”