Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) star right-arm medium pacer Harshal Patel, who won the Purple Cap in the IPL 2021, has put his name in another Indian Premier League (IPL) record last Wednesday (30th March 2022) night. He became the only second bowler in IPL history to deliver two maiden overs in the same innings.
It was the sixth match of the IPL 2022 where RCB met Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy (Mumbai). After RCB sent KKR to bat first, Shreyas Iyer-led KKR were bowled out for just 128 runs in 18.5 overs.
Apart from Sri Lankan leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (4/20) and the right-arm pacer Akash Deep (3/45), the 31-year-old Harshal Patel also played a very crucial role for the RCB to restrict their opponents for a below-par total. Harshal had the bowling figures of 4-2-11-2 and he became the second bowler in IPL history to deliver more than one maiden over in the same innings.
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Harshal Patel had a great night
When KKR were struggling at 83/6 at the end of 11 overs, Harshal came to bowl his first over of the match. Apart from delivering a maiden over in that 12th over of the match, Harshal also took the wicket of Sam Billings (14).
While Harshal continued that spell in the 14th over of the innings, he delivered another wicket-maiden over by dismissing the dangerous Caribbean batter Andre Russell (25). After that over, the RCB pacer had incredible bowling figures of 2-2-0-2. He continued that spell till completing his 4-over quota as he conceded 11 runs in the last two overs without adding any other wicket.
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Another RCB bowler to enjoy such a rare IPL record
We have already confirmed that Harshal Patel was the second bowler to register two maiden overs in the same IPL innings. But the more interesting point is that the first bowler to create that history was also an RCB bowler, the right-arm medium-fast bowler Mohammed Siraj.
Apart from the similarity of representing the same IPL team, there are more significant similarities during these identical historic achievements.
· Both oppositions were Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
· Both delivered two consecutive maiden overs.
· Both got at least one wicket in both their maiden overs.
On 21st October 2020, Mohammed Siraj became the first bowler to record more than one maiden over in an IPL innings when RCB faced KKR at Abu Dhabi during the 39th match of the IPL 2020.
Siraj’s incredible bowling performance (4-2-8-3) massively helped RCB to restrict KKR to just 84/8 in 20 overs. Unlike Harshal’s record, Siraj was the new ball partner as he started to bowl in that match from the second over of the game and recorded a double-wicket maiden over in his first over of the match.
While RCB chased down that small target in 13.3 overs after losing only their both openers (won by eight wickets), Siraj won that Player of the Match award.
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Latest RCB vs KKR match result
Coming back to the latest game between RCB and KKR at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy (Mumbai), RCB once again finished the game as the winning team but in a much thriller way. The match moved to the last over as the Bengaluru-based franchise reached the target with a boundary in 19.2 overs after losing seven wickets. Wanindu Hasaranga ultimately won the Player of the Match award for his excellent bowling performance.
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