Maxwell, AB show takes RCB to top of standings
MUMBAI: Glenn Maxwell is finally showing why franchise owners keep taking such huge punts on him despite a string of underwhelming seasons. For a batter who aggregated just 108 runs in 13 matches of the previous edition, it looked like a big risk when RCB bid ₹14.25cr at the auction for the Australian. Three games into IPL14, Maxwell has rewarded RCB by playing key roles in their first two wins and a starring role in the third on Sunday. With a hattrick of wins RCB are now on top of the standings.
In the scorching heat of Chennai and on a sluggish pitch, Maxwell, in the company of AB de Villiers, produced a dazzling display of T20 batting to tame KKR. The 32-year-old Australian made 78, which included nine fours and three sixes, and de Villiers hammered an unbeaten 76 off 34 with nine fours and three sixes. RCB amassed 204/4.
It proved too much for KKR as they finished on 166/8 to lose by 38 runs. Harshal Patel was again RCB’s stand out bowler. He finished with figures of 4-0-17-2, including the wicket of dangerman Andre Russell. During their chase, KKR were 121/5 after 15 overs. Russell was at the crease but KKR needed 84 runs off 30 balls. The Jamaican smashed the first four balls of the 17th over by Yuzvendra Chahal for a six and three fours to plunder 20 runs and hope flickered. But KKR had ceded too much ground for the power-hitter to cover. They needed 44 off 12 balls, but scored just one and four respectively in the last two overs.
The tame end to KKR’s chase was in contrast to how they had started the day. The first afternoon game of this edition had begun on a bright note for KKR when spinner Varun Chakravarthy dealt a double blow in the second over.
Captain Eoin Morgan’s move to start with spinners caught RCB captain Virat Kohli by surprise. Chakravarthy first got Kohli, falling to a running catch by Rahul Tripathi, before cleaning up Rajat Patidar, to leave RCB reeling at 9/2. But because of Maxwell and de Villiers’ that was KKR’s only good period of play. At the end of RCB’s innings, IPL fans were debating who was the better entertainer: Maxwell or de Villiers? Maintaining a strike rate of over 150, Maxwell did the repair job with an 86-run stand in 9.1 overs with opener Devdutt Padikkal before pressing on the accelerator during a 53-run association in 5.4 overs with de Villiers. It was the first time since the 2014 edition when he got 95, 89, 95 that Maxwell has three successive 30-plus scores—39, 59 and 78. One of the reasons for his success is being attributed to getting to play away from the spotlight, an advantage of playing with superstars Virat Kohli and De Villiers.
“It was nice to get in early and cash in on the powerplay. We tried to take on the spinners. It didn’t feel like you could consistently hit the ball down the ground. We just tried to cash in on width and take the innings deeper,” said Maxwell who has scored 176 runs so far.
The AB show
All teams have found that the last five overs are the most difficult to bat. For de Villiers though it was a breeze. On Sunday, RCB got 70 runs in the last five overs, with AB scoring 55 of them.
Perhaps, KKR hadn’t done their homework well. Captain Morgan missed a trick when he kept Russell for the slog overs against de Villiers. Russell has been very good at the death overs for KKR in the first two games, picking up a fifer as well, but his record against Villiers is ordinary. Before Sunday, the South African had a strike-rate of 221.74 against Russell. It proved no different in Chennai as the irrepressible de Villiers took 36 off 14 balls against Russell helping RCB collect 17 runs off the 18th over and 21 off the 20th over bowled by the West Indian. Morgan’s ploy to use Harbhajan Singh for the 19th over also backfired with the offspinner going for 18. De Villiers and Kyle Jamieson added 56 in last three overs at a run rate of 18.66, the second fastest 50-plus partnership in IPL history.
RCB 204/4 (Glenn Maxwell 78, AB de Villiers 76*; Varun Chakravarthy 2/39). KKR 166/8 (Eoin Morgan 29, Shakib Al Hasan 26, Andre Russell 31; Kyle Jamieson 3/41, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/34, Harshal Patel 2/17).