Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Simon Katich has heaped praise on Glenn Maxwell and Devdutt Padikkal after his team’s 38-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an IPL 2021 contest on Sunday (April 18) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Katich has also special praise for the South African batting legend AB de Villiers, who has been fantastic in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) so far, for his amazing batting against KKR.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has registered a hat-trick of wins for the first time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after thrashing Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday in Chennai.
The pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is known for its slow nature and teams have been struggling to bat on it in the ongoing IPL 14, but it wasn’t the same for De Villiers and Maxwell as the RCB duo have been got going right from the beginning and hitting the ball all around the stadium.
In their last IPL 14 match against KKR, RCB had a poor start, but Devdutt Padikkal (25) and Maxwell (78 runs off 49 balls) added 86 runs for the third wicket to set a great platform for De Villiers (76) to finish the game for the side. The Australia all-rounder also added 53 runs in just 6 overs with Proteas great.
Following the thrilling win over KKR that put RCB to the top of the IPL 2021 points table, the head coach lauded Padikkal, Maxwell, and De Villiers for their magnificent efforts on the tough Chepauk wicket.
Read Also: IPL 2021: Glenn Maxwell might end up as the Player of the Tournament - Michael Vaughan
Katich said in a video shared by RCB on Twitter: “Boys were magnificent today, we had a tough start but the way he fought back with that partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Devdutt Padikkal got us into a position there from where we could get the score we got.
At 9/2, no one would have thought we would score above 200. Maxwell and Padikkal deserve a lot of credit for setting up the platform and then AB, that was a special knock as well.”
The coach further added, “In terms of T20 batting, we were treated to two masterclasses from Maxwell and ABD. Young Padikkal's innings should not go unmentioned because that partnership between him and Maxwell gave us momentum in the innings and it put pressure on KKR.”
Hailing De Villiers, Katich said Mr. 360 is the best in the business when it comes to batting towards the backend of an innings while saying Maxwell and his partnerships were crucial for RCB in their last three back-to-back wins in the ongoing IPL 2021.
He signed off by saying, “We know that ABD is the best in the business in the backend and we have seen here in Chennai, a lot of teams have struggled at the backend and that is something we have done really well in these three games on the back of him and Maxwell. That can be the difference between winning and losing games.”
WATCH HERE:
Noteworthy, the table-toppers RCB will next take on Rajasthan Royals on Thursday (April 22) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in the ongoing IPL 14.
(With ANI Inputs)
