Virat Kohli is 'contagious', says RCB pacer Harshal Patel amid 'unhappy' IPL 2023 campaign

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Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Harshal Patel has found himself demoted to the Imapct Player bench in their Monday's match against Lucknow Super Giants.

As RCB are taking on LSG in Lucknow, Harshal Patel is in the substitutes bench and may come on as an Impact Player later.

The 32-year-old pacer has picked up 10 wickets to his name this season. He generally bowls at the death and this season he has gone at 9.94 runs per over, which is a bit expensive to his liking.

And ahead of the match, the bowler says he is unhappy with his bowling despite a decent return with wickets this season.

"Got ten wickets, but to be honest I'm not bowling the way I want to be bowling. There are few areas I still want to get better at and have more impact later on in the tournament," Patel said to the broadcasters Star Sports ahead of the match.

"I do my review after every game and I realized that I have been bowling a couple of deliveries which are freebies in T20s, I want to cut down on those and create more wicket-taking opportunities," he added.

RCB have swapped their captains this season as Virat Kohli acted as captain in the last few matches. Faf du Plessis was used as an Impact Player, but the South African is set to lead them again on Monday as he went for the toss against LSG.

But Harshal believes Kohli doesn't have to be designated as a captain to lead the team, and says the former India captain's energy is 'contagious' which motivates and inspires the entire squad.

"Virat has always been the leader whether he is captaining or not, his energy is contagious on and off the field and every time you have a chat with him, you come out a lot more inspired and motivated. We all value that a lot and the love for him is exceptional in any part of the world and always great to have someone like him in the team," he concluded.