IPL 2021 | De Villiers and Maxwell instructed me to with gut feel with bowling options, says Virat Kohli

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai on Sunday. RCB scored a competitive 165/6 thanks to skipper Virat Kohli (51), wicket-keeper Srikar Bharat (32) and Glenn Maxwell’s 56 runs off 37 balls with three sixes and six fours. In reply, Mumbai Indians were struggling at 99/5 at the end of 15 overs with Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard on the crease. The 16th over was unexpectedly bowled by Dan Christian as one over from Yuzvendra Chahal was left to bowl. He gave away only six runs in that over. In the next over, Harshal Patel removed Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, and Rahul Chahar to complete the hat-trick.

"I had a chat with AB and Maxi, they told me to go with my gut feel. My gut feel said DC (Dan Christian) is an experienced campaigner, he still has got a slower bouncer in there which could be a wicket-taking option," Kohli said.

"Chahal was bowling really well but I felt there wasn't enough in the pitch to stop them at that stage. They definitely would've gone after Chahal [talking about Hardik and Pollard]," he added.

"I went with DC - he bowled an amazing over, completely shut the game down and what Harshal did from the other end was unbelievable," Kohli signed off.

Harshal Patel became the third RCB player to complete a hat-trick after Praveen Kumar (against Rajasthan Royals in 2010) and Samuel Badree (against Mumbai Indians in 2017). With this win, RCB have retained its third position in the points table with 12 points in 10 matches after losing to Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings in the last two games. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians have slipped to the seventh spot with only eight points in 10 games. The remaining four games are now do-or-die for the defending champions.