IPL 2021: RR vs RCB – Stats and numbers that matter

There seems to be no stopping Harshal Patel

Harshal Patel is on top of the Purple Cap list and there seems to be absolutely no stopping him. He picked up another couple of wickets against Rajasthan Royals to take his season's tally to 26 wickets. Harshal has an eight-wicket lead over anyone else on the list.

He scripted several records with his wicket-taking deliveries tonight. The 30-year-old replaced Yuzvendra Chahal as the leading wicket-taker for RCB in a single IPL season. He holds the record for the most IPL wickets by an uncapped player in a single season.

Harshal Patel is in elite company

Harshal Patel took only 242 deliveries to get to his 25 wickets. Mumbai Indians' legendary bowler Lasith Malinga held the previous record for being the fastest to get to the milestone when he picked up 25 wickets inside 244 deliveries in IPL 2011. Malinga is also the highest wicket-taker in IPL history.

He has also been crucial at the death for RCB this season. 19 of Harshal's wickets have arrived at the death.

RCB got off the block quickly with the bat

Once again Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli set up Royal Challengers Bangalore with a comfortable start in the Powerplay. In fact, this was only the fifth time in IPL 2021 that RCB crossed the 50-run mark inside the first six overs.

KS Bharat and Glenn Maxwell provide confidence

KS Bharat scored 44 runs today and played an instrumental role with the bat. This is now the highest score by a player batting at RCB's number 3 this season. Glenn Maxwell also registered his fourth half-century against Rajasthan Royals – the joint most in an IPL season for the Australian.