Glenn Maxwell had a game to remember with two wickets and 56 runs but pacer Harshal Patel stole the limelight in the end with four wickets.
Harshal Patel has loved bowling against Mumbai Indians. He kept bowling slower balls, Mumbai Indians batters kept getting out to him, whether it was Chennai or Dubai. After Maxwell's game to remember with both bat and bowl, it was Harshal who stole the limelight with four wickets including a hat-trick.
It was almost a perfect night for the star Australian all-rounder, Maxwell who stormed back into the form bamboozling MI spinners with at least five switch hits. He kept attempting them and it kept coming off for him as it was just one of those days for him, he just kept pulling them off.
Maxwell's innings of 56 runs off just 37 balls gave RCB's innings much-needed impetus after KS Bharat's couple of lusty blows and strange innings from skipper Virat Kohli, whose tempo just fell off the cliff after the powerplay.
Kohli got to a fifty and crossed 10000 runs in T20 cricket but Maxwell provided them the platform, however, losing him and AB de Villiers in consecutive deliveries didn't help their final score as it looked like a what-could-have-been total as they looked well on course for a total in excess of 180.
Defending 165, RCB needed early wickets, which they didn't get as Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock got Mumbai off to a flier stitching a 57-run stand. But once Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed de Kock, the men in red had a foot in the door. But they needed to keep the door ajar, which is when Maxwell decided to have some more fun, this time with the ball.
Maxwell removed Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya while Chahal removed Ishan Kishan, whose poor form continued as Mumbai Indians were reeling now as the run-rate was in the 10s but they had their big-hitters in Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, who have chased those scores down from those situations umpteen times.
However, in bad news for them, Harshal 'Purple' Patel, who picked a fifer in the tournament opener in April in Chennai against this very team, just ended the game in three balls. He got Hardik Pandya to go for a wild slog over covers, but the batter mistimed straight into the hands of Virat Kohli.
But Harshal came up with a magical delivery on the next ball, a slower off-cutter on the leg-stump and it caught Pollard off guard bowling him round his legs and he was on a hat-trick. Another off-cutter straight into the pads and Rahul Chahar completely missed it as he was trapped LBW giving him his 22nd wicket of the tournament and his first hat-trick.
Patel became the third RCB bowler to pick up a hat-trick after Praveen Kumar and Samuel Badree and he finished the innings getting the last wicket as RCB bowled out MI for just 111 runs, winning the game by 54 and ended their 7-match losing streak in the UAE.
With this win, RCB now have 12 points and they solidified their position on the third spot, while it is getting difficult for MI game after game.
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