WATCH: RCB’s Harshal Patel picks up hat-trick; Dismisses Hardik and Pollard in the process
In what was a brilliant evening was Harshal Patel, he managed to provide one of the finest performances of his career, chipping in with the third hat-trick taken by a Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer. This was the 20th hat-trick picked up in IPL history, and the 17th different bowler to do so.
Mumbai were chasing 166 runs and Harshal Patel was asked to bowl the 17th over of the game with 61 runs to get. Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya were in the middle and going by their past performances, one cannot be blamed for gluing themselves to the television sets. However, what transpired was a bit unexpected, but a perfectly fair result for the hard work put in by the Haryana cricketer.
He started with a wide, and followed it up with the wicket of Hardik Pandya. He skewed it up in the air and Virat Kohli at covers hung on to swirling ball. Kieron Pollard had crossed the striker before Kohli took the catch and he was on strike for the next delivery. He was foxed by a brilliantly measured slower delivery, and in an attempt to move and glance it towards the leg-side, he totally missed the ball and his stumps were shattered.
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The hat-trick ball had everyone glued to their television sets, and under that immense pressure, Harshal Patel chipped in with another loopy slower delivery. It was a full-toss on Adam Milne’s pads, who failed to make any contact with the bat. He was caught plumb in front of the stumps and Harshal went on a victory run with his entire team chasing him.
Here’s a video of that outstanding hat-trick.
Harshal Patel eyeing an all-time record
Harshal Patel currently has 23 wickets to his credit and is well in contention to go past Dwayne Bravo’s all-time record of most wickets in a season. Dwayne Bravo picked up 32 wickets in the 2013 edition, which helped Chennai Super Kings reach the finals back then. Harshal needs 10 more wickets to go past that tally and has four league games left in addition to the playoffs, if RCB qualify to the next stages.