Glenn Maxwell produced a blistering knock of 18-ball 40* in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) comprehensive 8-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans *GT) at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday (May 19).
Chasing 169 to win, RCB got off to a brilliant start as the duo of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis added 115 runs for the opening wicket.
After skipper Du Plessis got out on 38-ball 44, Maxwell arrived in the middle and blasted the GT bowlers all around the park. While Kohli fell for 54-ball 73, Maxwell remained unbeaten in the middle to take RCB over the line with 8 balls to spare.
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"I didn't want to soak up any time. If I could get those first couple away and try to take the pressure off Virat at the other end, we can keep the momentum going. If I got out first ball, it wouldn't have made a difference but if I soaked up a few dots, it could have given them some momentum back. Just trying to be ultra-positive and obviously leave the game with no doubt because we felt like we dominated with the bat in that innings," said Maxwell after the match.
The luck was also in favour of Glenn Maxwell on the day. In the very first delivery he faced off Rashid Khan, the ball went on to hit his stumps but the bails did not come out, giving him a huge reprieve
"I didn't, but when I missed it I thought that's going to be pretty close to them. The worst thing is picking a wrong-un and missing it and thinking it's going to hit the stumps. You get those times when you need a bit of luck. Sometimes throughout this tournament, it's been a bit up and down. You gotta take the good with the bad. It's like a runout off the bowler's hand. Some things you can't do anything about but at least the bails stayed on for me this time," he said.
Maxwell also made his mark on the field as he took a brilliant catch off Josh Hazlewood's bowling to dismiss GT opener Shubman Gill.
"In my mind, I was moving a little bit too slowly and wasn't going to get there. It just hit perfectly in the fingers and stuck nicely. I've practised that stuff my whole life and it's not something that is just out of the blue. It's one of those things I work really hard on. To have it stick perfectly and it gave us a great start, we were able to control the Powerplay after that," he stated.
Glenn Maxwell came up with an all-around performance as he returned with the bowling figures of 1/28 in his four overs.
"It was just about holding my length. We saw Sai bowled beautifully there and there was a bit of hold for the finger spin. So just trying to make the most out of anything out of the surface."
With this victory, RCB moved to the fourth spot on the points table and kept their playoffs hopes alive. However, they are dependent on the outcome of the Mumbai Indians versus Delhi Capitals match on Saturday (May 21).
"We'll be probably watching the Mumbai v Delhi game pretty closely. I wouldn't mind a round of golf tomorrow. There will be a bit of rehab going on. But I think the guys will stay really focused. The amount of hard work and effort that has gone into this team this year. We feel like we deserve to be in the final four and hopefully, Mumbai will do the right thing by us and get us into the final four," said Maxwell.
(With ANI inputs)
