IPL 2021: Virat Kohli’s RCB beat Rohit Sharma’s MI – The big match highlights | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Hat-trick man Harshal Patel and Glen Maxwell helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) register a comprehensive 54-run win against five-time title holders Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
With this win, RCB held on to the third spot on the points table, with 2 points. With 4 matches still left to play for the Virat Kohli led team, RCB can get to a maximum of 20 points and have a very high probability of qualifying for the playoffs.
Here are the key highlights from the match:
Virat Kohli and Srikar Bharat gave RCB a good start after an early blow: Put in to bat, Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered an early jolt as their opener Devdutt Padikkal fell to Jasprit Bumrah without troubling the scorers. Captain Virat Kohli though has found form and smashed another half-century and put on 68 runs with wicket-keeper KS Bharat for the second wicket.

Kohli and Maxwell maintained a high scoring rate in the middle overs for RCB: After Bharat departed for 32 off 24 balls, Kohli got brilliant support at the other end from Glenn Maxwell, who came in at number four. The two put on a solid 51-run stand for the third wicket to maintain RCB’s run-rate high. Kohli scored a fine 51 off 42 balls, including 3 fours and 3 sixes, while Maxwell smashed 6 fours and 3 sixes in his 56-run off 37 balls knock. This partnership further put RCB in a commanding position.

Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)
Bumrah and Boult put the brakes on RCB’s charge in the death overs to restrict them to 165/6: ‘When in trouble, bring Bumrah into the attack’ – that’s the mantra captain Rohit Sharma followed. With dangermen Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers at the crease, Rohit gave the ball to Bumrah and he delivered the goods. In his last over, Bumrah dismissed Maxwell for 56 and then ended De Villiers’ stay (11) at the crease off his next delivery. He ended his over conceding 6 runs and with two big wickets in the form of Maxwell and De Villiers. His brilliant over helped MI reign in RCB and denied them a chance to put a huge total on the board. In the next over, Boult castled Shahbaz Ahmed for 1. Bumrah and Boult gave away just 9 runs in total in the last two overs and claimed three wickets between them. RCB were restricted to 165/6 in Dubai.
MI chase began well with Rohit and de Kock putting on 57 runs in quick time: Chasing RCB’s 165, captain Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock gave Mumbai Indians a solid start. Rohit scored a fine 43 off 28 balls, including 5 fours and a six, while De Kock chipped in with 24 off 23 balls, including 4 fours, and laid the foundation with a 57-run opening stand.

RCB hit back hard – MI lost Rohit and Ishan Kishan in the space of 4 balls and Bangalore were back in the game: The good start made MI favourites, but Royal Challengers Bangalore dismissed Rohit and Ishan Kishan in the space of four deliveries to hit back hard. Rohit played a powerful shot towards long-on off Maxwell but failed to connect properly and ended up giving an easy catch to Padikkal at the boundary. The MI skipper’s 43 off 28 balls’ knock was studded with 5 fours and a six. Ishan, who is part of the India squad for the World T20, soon made his way to the pavilion after being dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal for a paltry 9.

The big turning point – Harshal Patel and the hat-trick over derailed MI run chase: Harshal Patel registered great figures of 4-17, including a hat-trick, for RCB. The right-arm medium pacer removed Hardik Pandya (3), Kieron Pollard (7), and Rahul Chahar (0) off three consecutive deliveries in the 17th over to claim a hat-trick and tilt the match completely in RCB’s favour. This really was the biggest turning point of the match.

Harshal Patel (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)
“This is my sixth time being on a hat-trick and finally got one, so pretty happy,” Patel said after the match. Patel is the third cricketer to claim a hat-trick for RCB. Praveen Kumar vs RR in 2010 and Samuel Badree vs Mumbai Indians in 2017 are the other two in the elite club. MI eventually were bowled out for just 111, handing RCB a huge 54 run win which took them to 12 points, with 4 matches left to play in the league stage.