IPL: Harshal Patel hat-trick after Maxwell, Kohli fifties help RCB beat MI
Royal challengers Bangalore finally ended their losing streak on Sunday when they beat Mumbai Indians by 54 runs in match 39 of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) to strengthen their position in the points table.
Fast bowler Harshal Patel picked up a hat-trick after an all-round show from Glenn Maxwell to help RCB outclass MI.
Virat Kohli’s RCB successfully defended 166 in Dubai by bowling out the defending champions for 111 in 18.1 overs with Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj also among the wickets along with Harshal.
The run chase was going as per plan for MI when openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock were at the crease. The duo added 57 runs for the first wicket before RCB hit back through Chahal and Maxwell.
The Indian leg-spinner ended de Kock’s cameo (24 off 23 balls) and three overs later Maxwell got the big wicket of Rohit for 43 to put the brakes on the scoring rate.
Maxwell then sent back Krunal Pandya for 5 to finish with 2 for 23 from his 4 overs, Chahal bagged 3 for 11 from 4 while Siraj got the lone wicket of Suryakumar Yadav.
Harshal Patel added the final touches with the wickets of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar to become the third RCB bowler to bag a IPL hat-trick after Praveen Kumar and Samuel Badree.
He finished with 4 for 17 from his 4 overs, one less than his five-for performance against MI in their previous match this season in the opening game in Chennai in April.
Earlier, Aussie all-rounder Maxwell was RCB’s top-scorer with the bat along with skipper Virat Kohli, who also crossed 10,000 T20 runs during his 42nd IPL fifty in the first half of the game.
RCB rode on Maxwell’s destructive 56 and Kohli’s quickfire 51 to post 165 for 6 on the board after being put into bat by Rohit.
Maxwell’s innings had six fours and three sixes as he showed true destructive potential with switch hits, lap shots and flicks during the final overs when he launched into MI pacers with utter disdain.
Such was the ferocity of Maxwell’s hits that even the normally calm MI skipper Rohit Sharma looked helpless before Bumrah removed both Maxwell and AB de villiers (11) off successive deliveries which at least helped them save 20 to 25 runs in the final two overs.
