Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was elated after contributing well with the bat in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) 2-wicket win over the defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) opener on Friday (April 9) in Chennai.
It was the debut game for Maxwell with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the 32-year-old didn’t disappoint his fans and the franchise as well, as he made a valuable contribution to his team’s crucial win against Mumbai Indians to help them kickstart their IPL 2021 on a winning note.
Coming to bat at No.4, the right-hander scored 39 runs off 28 balls laced with 3 fours and 2 sixes, as well as, added a 52-run stand with captain Virat Kohli – that proved to be decisive in the eventual outcome of the match against the MI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
After RCB’s 2-wicket win over MI, Maxwell said it was nice to bat along with Kohli and set the perfect platform for AB de Villiers to finish off the game for the franchise against the defending champions, saying the South Africa legend is “an absolute superstar”.
Batting at No.5, the swashbuckling batsman played a knock of 48 runs off just 27 balls with the help of four boundaries and two maximums to help RCB chase down 160 on the last ball and beat MI by two wickets in the IPL 14 opener.
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Maxwell said in a video posted by RCB on Twitter: “It was nice to go out there and bat with the captain (Virat Kohli). Nice to not run him out in the first few balls, we were able to have a partnership and that was pretty cool. It would have been nice if one of us was there to finish it off but we set the platform for ABD to do his thing, he is an absolute superstar.”
The Aussie further added, “AB just assessed the conditions as he needed to do on that wicket. He went on to do AB things, some of the shots he played had the guys in awe. He is class.”
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He also lauded Harshal Patel who returned with a five-wicket haul to restrict MI to 159 in the 20 overs on Friday, saying his stunning efforts with the ball were instrumental in the team’s win in Chennai.
The all-rounder further said, “Harshal was outstanding, I think his first over went for 15, to come back from that and record 5-12 in his last three overs, his final over was brilliant against the backend hitters. He used his yorkers, slower balls, and his execution under pressure was a brilliant and a massive reason why we were able to keep the score under 160.”
Meanwhile, De Villiers hailed his RCB teammates’ efforts after thrashing the title holders in the season opener. He said in the same video shared by RCB: “I am very happy with the result, it was a fantastic performance from all of us. We had a shaky start here and there, you can see we have not been together for a while but there were some special individual performances.”
The Proteas great concluded, “At halftime, I knew it would be a hard total to chase; it is not an easy wicket. Luckily, we had some experience there to stay calm at the latter stages of the game, what a great win against trophy holders Mumbai Indians.”
With the win, RCB grabbed the top spot on the IPL 2021 points table and they will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 14 followed by Kolkata Knight Riders on April 18.
(With ANI Inputs)
