Having guys like ABD behind me is a luxury: Maxwell
After playing a matchwinning knock of 59 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) allrounder Glenn Maxwell said that he has benefitted with the comfort of knowing that talisman AB de Villiers will be batting behind him.
RCB defeated SRH by six runs in a thrilling encounter here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday. David Warner’s halfcentury had put SRH on course for victory but Shahbaz Ahmed ran through the middle-order to help RCB register its second consecutive win of the tournament.
“It’s a very nice start, new franchise for me and they have given me a specific role. To start like this is really nice. It’s nice to have batters behind you, you have freedom with AB to come and it’s a very similar role I have in the Australian cricket team. The support staff have been backing me as well. It’s just about using the experience. Get myself in and then go for the runs. Probably having those guys behind me is a luxury at RCB,” Maxwell said at the postmatch presentation.
“Maybe was pushed a bit too deep and expected to go from ball one, which I am not pretty good at. Maybe a bit of culture thing as well. Obviously. I think it’s my 4th IPL team and there’s a bit of pressure. So it was really key for me to turn up and do well. I will wait for my chance to bowl. Washi is a superstar for us. The more I don’t bowl and hopefully I can keep contributing with the bat, the more happy I will be,” he added.
SRH was right on track for a win with Warner and Manish Pandey stitching an 83-run stand for the second wicket but the side lost the plot in the middle overs. SRH collapsed from 96/1 to 123/6 within 4.4 overs and managed to reach 143/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Shahbaz picked three key wickets and delivered when RCB needed him the most.
Meanwhile, RCB head coach Simon Katich credited skipper Virat Kohli and his team for winning the first two games of the season as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by six runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.
“It certainly gets tense but I think the spirit with which they played was fantastic in both games. So, regardless of the result, we are really proud of the way they go about it. The fact we got over the line both times is great but if we hadn’t got over the line the fact we fought really hard and stayed in the contest as long as we did, particularly, tonight when dangerous Warner and Pandey were putting on a very good partnership and things have got there in their favour. —