Dubai, Sep 26 (FN Agency) Harshal Patel (4/17) continued his dream run in the IPL 2021 with a hat-trick to power Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a comprehensive 51-run win over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) at Dubai International Stadium in the 39th match of the tournament here on Sunday. The purple cap-holder’s (23 wickets) hat-trick came in the 17th over when he dismissed Hardik Pandya (3), Kieron Pollard (7), and Rahul Chahar (0) to break MI’s backbone when they needed 58 runs off the last four overs. His teammate Yuzvendra Chahal also had his share of the limelight as the Indian spinner picked 3/11, helping RCB to bundle out MI for 111 (in 18.1 overs) after they set 163 run target.
Earlier, riding on skipper Virat Kohli’s 51 and Glenn Maxwell’s 56 run innings, the RCB set a challenging total of 162/6 in the stipulated 20 overs. This was RCB’s first win in the UAE phase of the tournament and helped them to consolidate the third spot with 12 points. MI remain lowly-sixth with back-to-back third loss. However, three wickets within a space of 14 runs spiced up the game with seven overs left. Sharma was caught by Devdutt Padikkal to as he failed to clear the cover region off Maxwell’s delivery. Kishan (9 off 12) fell in the next over to Chahal while Suryakumar Yadav could only score 8 runs before being dismissed by Mohammed Siraj.
Maxwell continued to blast MI bowling including 17 runs off the 18th over bowled by Milne (1/48). MI did manage to do some damage control by giving away just nine runs in the last two overs including three wickets. Bumrah first removed AB de Villiers (11 off 6) and then Maxwell in the 19th over while Trent Boult (1/17) clean bowled Shabaz Ahmed (1 off 3) in the last over.