IPL 2023: Harshal Patel becomes joint second-fastest to 100 wickets
Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Harshal Patel clocked his 100th Indian Premier League (IPL) wicket during the match against Lucknow Super Giants. He reached his milestone when he cleaned up Mark Wood in the last over of the match. He finished with 2/48 but RCB lost yet another last-over thriller. He has become the joint second fastest to 100 IPL wickets. We decode his stats.
A tough day at the office
Harshal had a torrid start to his quota as he conceded 17 runs in his first over against Marcus Stoinis. He then conceded 18 more runs against Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni. Harshal bowled a decent third over, giving away nine runs. The last over saw him pick up scalps of Mark Wood and Jaydev Unadkat but it wasn't enough to help RCB win.
Joint second-fastest to complete 100 IPL wickets
When he knocked over Wood in the last over, he completed the rare milestone of 100 IPL wickets. Harshal reached the milestone in 81 matches and became the joint second fastest to the milestone with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Only behind Lasith Malinga, who completed the milestone in 70 matches. In terms of innings (79), Harshal is the fastest Indian to complete the milestone.
A look at his IPL numbers
Harshal has raced to 101 wickets in 81 IPL matches at an average of 23.23. He has scalped three four-wicket hauls and his career-best bowling figures of 5/27 came against MI in the 2021 curtain raiser. He is also the second-highest wicket-taker for RCB with 89 wickets in 69 matches at 22.12. He is only behind Yuzvendra Chahal (139).
Did you know?
Harshal became the second bowler in IPL history to bowl two maidens in an inning. He achieved the feat against KKR last season and matched the record of teammate Mohammed Siraj, who was the first to do it. Siraj also recorded his feat against KKR.
