Nine years after his IPL debut, Harshal Patel suddenly became the most feared death bowler in the league. Traded back to Royal Challengers Bengaluru before the 2021 season, the right-arm seamer took 32 wickets in 15 matches, equalling Dwayne Bravo’s all-time record for a single IPL campaign and winning the Purple Cap. Three years later he did it again, this time in Punjab Kings colours, finishing the 2024 season as the league’s leading wicket-taker once more. Few Indian seamers without express pace have owned the IPL’s toughest overs the way Harshal has, relying on slower balls, cutters and yorkers disguised with the same action.
The numbers since his peak tell a quieter story. Sunrisers Hyderabad signed him for Rs 8 crore at the 2025 mega auction, and after a middling 2025 the franchise retained him for 2026. But IPL 2026 was brutal: five matches, 148 runs conceded, no wickets, and a demotion from the playing XI by the time the playoffs arrived. At 35, Harshal’s craft at the death remains proven, yet his place in the league’s future is an open question heading into IPL 2027.
Harshal Patel IPL Stats Overview
| Stat | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Harshal Vikram Patel |
| IPL Debut | 2012 (Royal Challengers Bangalore) |
| Role | Bowler (death-overs specialist) |
| Batting Style | Right-handed |
| Bowling Style | Right-arm fast-medium |
| Current IPL Team | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| IPL Matches | 124 |
| IPL Wickets | 151 |
| Best Bowling | 5/27 |
| Purple Caps | 2 (2021, 2024) |
| IPL 2027 Team | Not officially confirmed |
| IPL 2027 Price | Not officially confirmed |
Who Is Harshal Patel?
Harshal Vikram Patel, born 23 November 1990 in Sanand, Gujarat, is an Indian right-arm fast-medium bowler who bats right-handed. A product of Gujarat’s age-group system, he moved to Haryana early in his career and announced himself with a devastating debut Ranji Trophy season in 2011-12, when he ran through Karnataka and Rajasthan with consecutive eight-wicket hauls in the quarter-final and semi-final. He was picked for India’s 2010 Under-19 World Cup squad without playing a game, and briefly sat on the Mumbai Indians roster in 2010 without a senior appearance.
His IPL journey began properly with Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2012, where he debuted on 7 April against Delhi Daredevils at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and took 9 wickets in 12 matches that season. After middling years he became a T20 specialist built for the death overs, earning an India T20I debut in November 2021 against New Zealand, where he took two wickets and was named player of the match. He has played 25 T20Is for India, last featuring in January 2023. At Sunrisers Hyderabad he shared the dressing room with T. Natarajan and Harry Brook, and ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season he returned to his home state Gujarat after 14 years with Haryana.
Harshal Patel IPL Teams
| Season | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2012-2017 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Signed, debut season 2012 |
| 2018-2020 | Delhi Daredevils / Delhi Capitals | Auction signing, 2018 |
| 2021-2023 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Traded from Delhi (2020-21 window); retained for 2023 |
| 2024 | Punjab Kings | Auction signing, Rs 11.75 crore |
| 2025-2026 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Mega auction signing, Rs 8 crore; retained for 2026 |
| 2027 | Not officially confirmed | Retention and auction announcements pending |
Harshal spent his first six IPL seasons with RCB, then three quiet years with Delhi Capitals between 2018 and 2020, where he played only ten matches in total. Delhi traded him back to RCB ahead of the 2021 season, and the move revived his career alongside established RCB names such as Faf du Plessis. After three more seasons in Bengaluru, Punjab Kings bought him for Rs 11.75 crore in the 2024 auction, and he won his second Purple Cap with them. Sunrisers Hyderabad picked him for Rs 8 crore at the 2025 mega auction and retained him for 2026, though that season turned out to be the hardest of his career.
Harshal Patel IPL 2024 Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Team | Punjab Kings |
| Matches | 14 |
| Wickets | 24 |
| Bowling Average | 19.88 |
| Economy | 9.73 |
| Best Bowling | 3/15 |
Bought for Rs 11.75 crore, Harshal repaid Punjab Kings with the second Purple Cap of his career. His 24 wickets in 14 matches came at an average of 19.88, and 16 of those wickets arrived in the final five overs, at an economy of 10.38 in that phase. It made him one of only four bowlers in IPL history to win the Purple Cap twice, alongside Dwayne Bravo, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kagiso Rabada, and it puts his Punjab stint alongside the notable Indian seamer seasons of men like Shardul Thakur and Sam Curran. The season rebuilt his market value and set up his move to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Harshal Patel IPL 2025 Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Team | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| Matches | 13 |
| Wickets | 16 |
| Bowling Average | 26.88 |
| Economy | 9.81 |
| Best Bowling | 4/28 (vs Chennai Super Kings) |
| Four-wicket hauls | 2 |
The 2025 season was ordinary by his own high standards. Harshal took 16 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 26.88, a clear step down from his Purple Cap year. Yet it still produced the defining statistical moment of his career: against Lucknow Super Giants in May, he dismissed Aiden Markram to complete 150 IPL wickets in just 2,381 balls bowled, the fastest to the mark in the league’s history, breaking Lasith Malinga’s record of 2,444 balls. Among all bowlers with 150 or more IPL wickets, he holds the best bowling strike rate.
Harshal Patel IPL 2026 Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Team | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| Matches | 5 |
| Overs | 13.4 |
| Runs Conceded | 148 |
| Wickets | 0 |
| Economy | 10.83 |
| Best Bowling | 0/16 |
IPL 2026 was the first season in which Harshal’s trusted variations deserted him. Retained by SRH at Rs 8 crore, he played five matches, went wicketless across roughly 14 overs and conceded 148 runs at an economy of 10.83. Younger uncapped seamers outperformed him, and by the Eliminator against Rajasthan Royals he had dropped out of the playing XI entirely, named only in the Impact Player list. It was the only season of his 14-year IPL career without a single wicket, and it leaves his 2027 prospects genuinely uncertain.
Harshal Patel IPL 2027 Stats
IPL 2027 statistics are not available yet because the season has not started. As of October 2026, neither the retention list nor the IPL 2027 auction has been officially announced, so Harshal Patel’s team and price for the season are not officially confirmed. Given his age, price tag and wicketless 2026, whether SRH retains him or he enters the auction pool will be one of the season’s interesting storylines. This page will be updated once official announcements are made.
Harshal Patel IPL 2027 Team and Price
Harshal Patel’s IPL 2027 team and price are not officially confirmed. He played for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2025 and 2026 at a retained price of Rs 8 crore, but the 2027 retention window and mega auction schedule had not been announced as of the time of writing. A retained player is never “bought”, so any reporting of his status will distinguish retention from a fresh auction purchase once the news is official.
Harshal Patel IPL Career Bowling Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Matches | 124 |
| Wickets | 151 |
| Bowling Average | 24.68 |
| Economy | 8.92 |
| Bowling Strike Rate | 16.6 |
| Best Bowling | 5/27 (vs Mumbai Indians, 2021) |
| Five-wicket hauls | 1 |
| Four-wicket hauls | 4 |
| Purple Caps | 2 (2021, 2024) |
Harshal Patel IPL Stats by Year
| Season | Team | Mat | Wkts | Avg | Econ | BBI | 4w / 5w |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | RCB | 12 | 9 | 37.77 | 8.29 | 2/24 | 0 / 0 |
| 2014 | RCB | 3 | 4 | 28.25 | 10.27 | 2/56 | 0 / 0 |
| 2015 | RCB | 15 | 17 | 19.29 | 7.48 | 2/12 | 0 / 0 |
| 2016 | RCB | 5 | 1 | 147.00 | 10.50 | 1/46 | 0 / 0 |
| 2017 | RCB | 1 | 3 | 14.33 | 10.75 | 3/43 | 0 / 0 |
| 2018 | DC | 5 | 7 | 23.85 | 9.54 | 3/28 | 0 / 0 |
| 2019 | DC | 2 | 2 | 38.50 | 9.62 | 2/40 | 0 / 0 |
| 2020 | DC | 5 | 3 | 44.66 | 8.93 | 2/34 | 0 / 0 |
| 2021 | RCB | 15 | 32 | 14.34 | 8.14 | 5/27 | 1 / 1 |
| 2022 | RCB | 15 | 19 | 21.58 | 7.66 | 4/34 | 1 / 0 |
| 2023 | RCB | 14 | 14 | 32.43 | 9.66 | 3/32 | 0 / 0 |
| 2024 | PBKS | 14 | 24 | 19.88 | 9.73 | 3/15 | 0 / 0 |
| 2025 | SRH | 13 | 16 | 26.88 | 9.81 | 4/28 | 2 / 0 |
| 2026 | SRH | 5 | 0 | – | 10.83 | 0/16 | 0 / 0 |
| Career | – | 124 | 151 | 24.68 | 8.92 | 5/27 | 4 / 1 |
He did not play an IPL match in 2013. His batting contributions have been minimal throughout his career, a handful of lower-order cameos, so this page carries his bowling record as the complete picture.
Harshal Patel IPL Highest Score
Harshal Patel is a specialist bowler and lower-order batter, and his IPL batting record contains no significant scores. No verified career-high IPL score from reliable sources is worth headlining here, so this section is left factual rather than padded.
Harshal Patel IPL Wickets and Best Bowling
Harshal’s 151 wickets make him one of the most productive Indian seamers in IPL history, with the standout bowling strike rate of any 150-wicket bowler in the league. His best figures remain the famous 5/27 against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2021 opener at Chepauk on 9 April 2021, the first five-wicket haul ever taken against Mumbai in the IPL. Later that season he completed his only IPL hat-trick, also against Mumbai Indians at Dubai on 26 September 2021, dismissing Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar in consecutive deliveries. He is one of very few bowlers to win two Purple Caps, in 2021 and 2024.
Harshal Patel IPL Auction Price History
| Season | Team | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Delhi Daredevils | Rs 20 lakh | Auction |
| 2019 | Delhi Capitals | Rs 20 lakh | Retained |
| 2020 | Delhi Capitals | Rs 20 lakh | Retained |
| 2021 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Trade | All-cash trade from Delhi |
| 2022 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Rs 10.75 crore | Mega auction |
| 2023 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Rs 10.75 crore | Retained |
| 2024 | Punjab Kings | Rs 11.75 crore | Auction |
| 2025 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Rs 8 crore | Mega auction |
| 2026 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Rs 8 crore | Retained |
| 2027 | Not officially confirmed | – | Pending |
Harshal Patel IPL Records and Achievements
- Two IPL Purple Caps, 2021 and 2024, one of only four bowlers to win the award twice.
- Joint-record 32 wickets in a single IPL season (2021), equalling Dwayne Bravo’s 2013 mark.
- Fastest bowler to 150 IPL wickets by balls bowled, reaching the milestone in 2,381 deliveries in May 2025, breaking Lasith Malinga’s record of 2,444.
- Best bowling strike rate among all bowlers with 150 or more IPL wickets.
- First five-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians in IPL history (5/27, 9 April 2021).
- IPL hat-trick against Mumbai Indians at Dubai (26 September 2021), dismissing Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar in consecutive balls.
- India T20I debut against New Zealand in November 2021, two wickets and player of the match.
Harshal Patel’s IPL Performance Analysis
Harshal’s career divides cleanly into three phases. The first was the long apprenticeship: six seasons at RCB and three at Delhi between 2012 and 2020 produced 46 wickets in 48 matches, and he rarely played more than five games a season after 2015. He was a fringe seamer with a neat slower ball, nothing more.
The trade back to RCB before 2021 changed everything. Handed the death-overs role, he bowled the toughest overs in the tournament and kept taking wickets: 32 in 2021, 19 at an economy of just 7.66 in 2022, then 24 for Punjab in 2024. The pattern was consistent. He bowled slightly slower than everyone else, changed his pace constantly and forced batters to generate their own power. In an era of power hitters, that made him more valuable, not less.
The third phase is the warning. His economy has crept upward every season since 2022 (7.66, 9.66, 9.73, 9.81), and 2026 was the cliff: wicketless in five games at nearly 11 an over, out of the XI at playoff time. Batters have started waiting for the slower ball rather than being deceived by it. At 35, his 2027 value depends entirely on whether he can reinvent his variations or whether the franchise table views 2026 as the new normal.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many wickets does Harshal Patel have in the IPL?
Harshal Patel has 151 wickets in 124 IPL matches, at an average of 24.68 and an economy of 8.92.
How many Purple Caps has Harshal Patel won?
Two, in 2021 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (32 wickets) and in 2024 with Punjab Kings (24 wickets). He is one of only four bowlers to win the award twice.
What is Harshal Patel’s IPL 2027 team and price?
Not officially confirmed. The 2027 season has not started and the retention list and auction had not been announced as of October 2026. He last played for Sunrisers Hyderabad at a retained price of Rs 8 crore.
What is Harshal Patel’s best bowling figure in the IPL?
5/27 against Mumbai Indians at Chepauk on 9 April 2021, the first five-wicket haul ever taken against Mumbai in the IPL.
Which teams has Harshal Patel played for in the IPL?
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (2012-2017 and 2021-2023), Delhi Daredevils/Delhi Capitals (2018-2020), Punjab Kings (2024) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (2025-2026). He debuted for RCB in 2012.
What is the record for the most wickets in an IPL season?
The record is 32 wickets, shared by Dwayne Bravo (2013) and Harshal Patel (2021). Harshal also holds the record for the fastest to 150 IPL wickets by balls bowled, reaching it in 2,381 deliveries in 2025.
Is Harshal Patel playing for SRH in IPL 2027?
That has not been officially confirmed. SRH retained him for 2026, but his 2027 team depends on the retention and auction announcements, which were pending as of October 2026.
Has Harshal Patel played for India?
Yes. He has played 25 T20Is for India, debuting against New Zealand in November 2021 and taking two wickets as player of the match. He last played for India in January 2023.
Sources and Data Notes
Season figures and auction prices are cross-checked against myKhel, ESPNcricinfo’s Purple Cap winners list, Cricbuzz scorecards and the official IPL site. Statistics and player information are checked against available reliable sources and may be updated as new IPL matches, transfers, or official announcements are confirmed.
Statistics updated through: 17 October 2026
