Follow UsHarshal Patel has gone underrated this season with his bowling helping Sunrisers Hyderabad on many occasions in their lacklustre season. Now, the wily pacer has become the fastest Indian to reach the milestone of 150 Indian Premier League (IPL) wickets during the game against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow.
Earlier, SRH won the toss and elected to bowl first on a track that looked great for batting. Mitch Marsh and Aiden Markram gave a stupendous start to LSG, 115 for the first wicket in just 10.3 overs. Harshal would have had Marsh in the 10th over only and reached 150 IPL wickets, but the third umpire ruled a close caught and bowled chance in the batter’s favour.
Harshal then returned at the death and cleaned up Markram with a brilliant Yorker. He went wide of the bowling crease and angled the Yorker in the middle stump. Markram, thinking that the ball will be a low full toss, made room to hit it but the ball dipped on him in the last moment and crashed into the woodwork behind him. That brought up Harshal’s 150th wicket in the IPL.
So special has been this achievement for the perennially under-the-radar pacer that he reached the milestone quicker than the likes of Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah, who enjoy much bigger fame as IPL bowlers than him. Only Lasith Malinga has reached 150 wickets quicker than him.
SRH managed to curtail the LSG total to 205/7, which was looking to be 220 plus after the 10th over of the first innings.
Fastest to 150 IPL wickets
105 inns - Lasith Malinga
114 inns - Harshal Patel
117 inns - Yuzvendra Chahal
122 inns - Rashid Khan
124 inns - Jasprit Bumrah
*By innings