While Mitchell Starc grabbed the headlines with three wickets to restrict the Rajasthan Royals to 130 runs on their home ground, it was Harshal Patel who set the ball rolling for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The local lad claimed the all important wicket of Ajinkya Rahane upfront and then sent back the dangerous James Faulkner to ensure that the reins were pulled on the hosts’ scoring rate. Speaking to iplt20.com after the much needed win, Patel said having grown up playing cricket at the Sardar Patel Stadium helped him assess the wicket quickly and set the plans in motion. The young pacer also spoke about drawing inspiration from Mitchell Starc as he looks forward to making a mark in the tournament. Excerpts: Beating the Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad must be a good confidence booster to the team? Absolutely! We have had a couple of tough losses and the important thing was to stick together as a team. We knew we have enough fire-power in our team to deliver in every single game. So we just needed to stick together and deliver this performance as a team. And yes, we are very pleased to have done that. Did you expect to restrict RR to 130 runs? Honestly, the wicket looked a little on the slower side to begin with. So we thought 150 – 160 runs would be a good total on this track. But to have restricted them to 130 runs was absolutely amazing. You bowled first change and your overs were spread across the innings. Could you elaborate on the strategy? The wicket was a little on the slower side (and) so Virat (Kohli) decided to open with a spinner. Hence I came in as first change and used my change of pace and that worked out well. You got Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket with a slower delivery. What were your plans when bowling to him? I looked at the wicket and it seemed to be on the slower side. So I decided to vary my pace. After I bowled my first slower ball (I realised) it was stopping on the track. So I decided to bowl lot of slow balls. What has it been like bowling with Mitchell Starc? It is absolutely amazing the way he has been bowling and his form. Just to watch him on the field and off it, how he trains and how he approaches the game, bowls in the nets has given me a lot of inspiration. These are the guys that you look up to. While the overseas players might have to work a bit to adapt, does it help having played domestic cricket on many of these grounds? Yes it does. You know most of the wickets in India. I have grown up on this ground so I know this track very well. If they don’t leave any grass it’s always slow and low. So it definitely helps playing domestic cricket, you know the wicket and the grounds better. You had a good season coming into the IPL. That must helped too? Absolutely, the IPL is such a big part of your season. So once you start well in the Ranji Trophy you want to carry that form into the IPL and do well here as well. How challenging it is to adapt to the various formats? What is the key to bowling successfully in T20 cricket? To be honest, (bowling in) multi-day (matches) is a lot more difficult than this for me. Adapting is not that difficult if you know your strengths and weaknesses. You just need to work on them. T20 for me is knowing your plans and knowing your strengths, plan accordingly and execute it. I try to keep it simple. So what do you consider as your strength? My strength is the number of dot balls that I bowl (to create pressure on the batsman) and that’s what I would like to build on. Your ability to swing the ball has been one of your strengths. How do you look forward to using that in T20 format? It has been good playing in the IPL. In T20 you have to adapt and change your game according to the situation and demand of the game. I haven’t really got to swing the ball yet in this tournament but hopefully in coming games I can showcase that aspect of my bowling. How has it been playing under Virat Kohli? It’s amazing! He totally backs his players, gives them a lot of confidence. He is a very intense person and likes everyone to bring in the energy and intensity on the field and that’s what we have been doing as a unit. This stadium today backed RCB and there were chants of ‘RCB RCB’ from the beginning. How does it feel to get support like that in an away fixture? Great! The players that we have draw a lot of support for us. The kind of cricket we play and the preparation that we have brings in lot of supporters and it feels great to have that kind of support away as well.