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IPL 2021: RCB win off last ball as Harshal takes maiden five-for versus MI
IPL 2021: Defending champions lose way after solid start; late charge by de Villiers gets Kohli’s boys off the blocks.
After 15 overs, Mumbai Indians were 128 for three -- a perfect platform for an assault in the final five overs and take the game out of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s reach in the Indian Premier League opener played at Chennai’s M Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. With Ishan Kishan set on 20 off 12 balls and Hardik Pandya on 7 from 6, and Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya waiting in the dugout, they had the big-hitters to cause maximum damage.
Harshal Patel was the bowler chosen by RCB to bowl the 16th over. It had the makings of a David vs Goliath battle. What followed was nothing short of spectacular. In the 16th over, he restricted Kishan and Hardik to seven runs, and finished the over with the wicket of Hardik. Then he followed it up in the 18th with the wicket of Kishan while conceding just four runs. And by the end of the 20th, Patel had even won over the respect of the legends Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers -- with the two walking up to the bowler for a warm embrace, which is a mark of real appreciation for a job well done.
In a dramatic finish to the innings, Patel prized out three wickets off his first four balls, and conceded just one run in the entire final over to finish with five wickets for 27 runs. As a result, the defending champs managed just 25 runs from the last four overs -- their lowest return in the period since 2016 -- to finish at a below-par 159 for eight.
In their chase, RCB were well served by captain Virat Kohli and their new buy Glenn Maxwell with a 39-ball 52-run partnership, but it was left to veteran AB de Villiers to take the team close to the finish line with a brilliant 48 off 27 balls.
At the very end, RCB needed two runs in two balls when de Villiers was run-out but Mohammed Siraj took a single off a leg-bye to tie the scores. It came down to Patel, the star of the day, to eke a single off the final ball to take the team home, and he did just that. RCB of course will take a lot of confidence from the victory, as they had lost eight of their last 10 matches against MI.
Patel was not even expected to make the playing XI with India bowler Navdeep Saini in the line-up. But he got the nod mainly because of his ability to be an effective pinch-hitter. The 30-year-old has been around for a long time in domestic cricket and IPL circuit, but hadn’t done anything so spectacular for the MI batsmen to consider him a threat. Before this match that is.
To the delight of the RCB think-tank, the journeyman repaid the faith imposed in him against their bogey team. And the highlight of the match will remain the final over of the MI innings, bowled by Patel.
With the first ball, he had Krunal Pandya caught at deep midwicket by Dan Christian and when on the second ball Pollard was deceived by a quick off-break to be caught by Washington Sundar, Patel was on a hat-trick. He kept his nerves and did nail a dipping yorker to beat Marco Jansen all ends up, but narrowly missed the stumps. The pacer made amends with the fourth ball, however, by directing his yorker into the base off the off-stump.
In what was a truly forgettable over for MI, there was a run-out off the final ball of the innings as well to make it four wickets and one run in that final over.
“The ball started tailing in a bit when I came in the 16th over, and that was my cue. I executed perfectly,” a happy Patel told the broadcasters during the innings break. “This is my first five-wicket haul in T20s, I've played about a 100 matches. Feels good that it's come against Mumbai -- you can't look at the opposition all the time, all you must focus on is your planning and the execution.”
The IPL is known for its examples of unknown names gaining instant recognition with an inspired performance. On Friday, it was the Haryana player’s turn. This ensured that Rohit Sharma’s side lost their opening fixture of the IPL for the ninth straight time since 2013. Incidentally, in that period of time, Sharma has also led his side to five titles.
