Cricket / RCB's Harshal records most wickets in an IPL season by an Indian, breaks Bumrah's record

Cricket Desk: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Harshal Patel on Wednesday bagged his 28th wicket in IPL 2021 and went past Mumbai Indians speedster Jasprit Bumrah to set a new record for most wickets taken in a single season by an Indian bowler.

The moment arrived in the 18th over of the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings when he dismissed their wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha on 10. He bowled a slower delivery and Saha's mishit was caught at long off by AB de Villiers. Earlier in the day, in his second over, he castled a well-set Kane Williamson on 31. He bowled an off-cutter on length that was angled into the stumps. Williamson made some room and tried to cut the ball but ended up losing his stumps.

Eventually, Patel finished with figures of 3/33 after bagging his 29th wicket on the final ball of the innings. He dismissed Jason Holder on 16 as SRH finished at 141/7 in 20 overs.

With his 28th scalp, he went past Bumrah's tally of 27 wickets. The MI pacer had set a record in 2020 by reaching the tally in 15 matches. Third in the list, now, is Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had bagged 26 wickets in 14 matches, with the best performance of 5/19 during the 2017 season.

Fourth in the list is current Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Jaydev Unadkat, who achieved his career-best haul of 24 wickets in the 2017 edition as well. He achieved the tally for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) in 12 matches and his best performance was a 5/30. Rounding off the top-5, who happens to be tied with Unadkat, is former MI spinner Harbhajan Singh. He also picked up 24 in 19 matches in IPL 2013 and his best figures read 3/14.

Right-arm pacer Patel, who is currently the “Purple Cap” holder, is having a season to remember. He already has a five-wicket haul, a hat-trick, a four-wicket, and a few three and two-wicket hauls to his name.

This season, most of Patel's wickets have come in the back of the innings, a part RCB bowlers have always struggled with. Patel's exploits this season seemed to have solves RCB woes for now.