Harshal Patel had a brilliant outing as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by three wickets on Wednesday to register their first win of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The seamer bowled brilliantly for his figures of 2/11 and also hit an unbeaten 10 off six deliveries to help RCB complete a tricky chase at the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Having had a breakthrough season last year when he equalled Dwayne Bravo's record of most wickets in an IPL season, Harshal joined another elite list with his performance on Wednesday.
His first two overs in the match were back-to-back wicket-maidens, which saw him become only the second player in history to bowl two maiden overs in an IPL match.
Co-incidentally, the first player to have achieved the feat was his RCB teammate Mohammed Siraj against KKR in IPL 2020.
Siraj registered figures of 3/8 in Abu Dhabi in 2020, blowing KKR away with the new ball.
Harshal's maidens also came off his first two overs of the match, but they came in the middle-overs.
He first had Sam Billings hole out in his first over after choking him for runs. His next over was even better, as he tied down a rampant Andre Russell before finally getting him to edge one behind with a short delivery.
Although KKR's top-order collapse meant RCB were in a strong position when Harshal came on to bowl, Russell was still on strike and he was looking in the mood for some fireworks.
Russell was batting on 25 off 13, having hit three sixes and a boundary, but Harshal bowled four consecutive dot balls, increasing the pressure on the big man.
With his fifth delivery of the over, Harshal bowled a short delivery that wasn't wide enough for Russell to free his arms and hit, so the all-rounder tried to back away and cut the ball but only managed an edge through to Dinesh Karthik.
The dismissal epitomised Harshal's excellent performance, which would have reflected even better numbers if not for two unfortunate boundaries conceded off his bowling.
Harshal Patel won the Purple Cap last year for finishing as the leading wicket-taker and is in the race once again, with four wickets in two matches so far. However, the man currently leading that tally is his teammate Wanindu Hasaranga, who took four in the match against KKR to take his total number of wickets this season to five.