Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bowler Harshal Patel on Friday claimed a five-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the first match of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
And by doing so, Patel has become the first bowler to claim a five-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians in the entirety of the IPL. The previous best was 4/6 (2 overs) by Rohit Sharma then playing for Deccan Chargers at Centurion in South Africa in 2009.
The 30-year-old seamer took important wickets of Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, and Marco Jansen. His brilliant spell (5-27) helped RCB restrict MI for159 runs.
Meanwhile, Twitter hailed Harshal Patel for his performance. Many even reacted with hilarious memes.
Check out a few tweets:
Meanwhile, The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic hurt both Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teams, forcing them to drop their first-choice openers in this season's Indian Premier League (IPL) opening match on Friday night.
While South African wicketkeeping batsman Quinton de Kock missed out for Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore were forced to pick a replacement for their opening batsman Devdutt Padikkal, who was a find for them last season.
"Quinny (Quinton de Kock) is in quarantine, so he isn't available. Lynn will make debut," said MI skipper Rohit Sharma ahead of the tournament opener.
"Padikkal has been recommended rest," said Sharma's counterpart from RCB, Virat Kohli.