Harshal Patel
Harshal Patel plucked a hat-trick to ensure a thumping 54-run victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore against defending champions Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
The 30-year-old, who plucked the wickets of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar in his hat-trick, revealed his tactics in the post-match presentation. With cleverly disguised slower deliveries in his arsenal, Harshal finished with figures of 4/17, becoming the third Bangalore bowler to record an IPL hat-trick.
"I was thinking if the batters can't pick my slower balls then the bowlers also will find it difficult to spot (referring to Chahar's wicket). I just bet on that. This is my sixth time being on a hat-trick and finally got one, so pretty happy.
"Pollard is somebody who can do damage if you bowl in his areas, we wanted to take him wide and then once you drag him wide you have the option to bluff him, that came off really well. The way Siraj started, he's someone who sets the tempo for us and the way Maxi and Chahal bowled in the middle overs were absolutely brilliant. They were under pressure at the death and we executed really well," he further said.
Put in to bat, RCB scored 165 for 6 in their IPL match against MI, who could only manage 111 in 18.1 overs. Harshal Patel (4/17) registered four-fer for RCB while Yuvendra Chahal picked up three wickets.
Earlier, Glenn Maxwell top-scored for RCB with a 37-ball 56 while skipper Virat Kohli (51 off 42 balls) also scored a half century, helping Bangalore gather 165 in their 20 overs.
Kohli also had "no complaints" on his side's performance as he heaped praise on Harshal's bowling show. " Tonight no complaints. Maybe in batting I will give it 8, we should've got 20-25 more. I went with Daniel Christian - he bowled an amazing over, completely shut the game down and Harshal did an amazing job from the other end," he said.
Losing skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that the batters let them down as their unit crumbled against soaring required run-rate.
"Batters let us down. That's been something that's been happening consistently (losing their way with the bat). Have had a good chat with the batters. Those who are in need to carry on. They kept the pressure on us once a couple of wickets fell. Need to bounce back from whatever situation we're in," he said.
