RCB vs KKR: Glenn Maxwell enthralls Chepauk crowd with 49-ball 78

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Glenn Maxwell scored 78 runs in 49  balls on Sunday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The Australian batsman walked in after an impressive opening spell by Varun Chakravarthy left RCB reeling at 9/2 after the second over. With propulsion from his half-century and AB de Villiers’ unbeaten 76 runs, RCB finished at 204 after 20 overs.

Maxwell took on the spinners displaying a wide range of shots, from half-arm jabs to reverse sweeps. He stitched an 86-run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal and then shared a 53-run stand with AB de Villiers. 

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Maxwell hit nine fours and three sixes during his stay at the crease. The RCB middle-order batsman reached his fifty in 28-balls. It was the sixth over bowled by Shakib Al Hasan when Maxwell hit a six and a boundary to make 17 runs in total. The 32-year-old now is the orange cap holder with 176 runs in three matches of IPL 2021. 

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Talking about his innings, Maxwell said, “It was nice to get in early. It became hard to time the ball as the innings went on, looked to cash in against the new ball. He (AB de Villiers) did it in the first game, showed his class, was an extraordinary knock, just shows that if you give yourself some time, you can play shots on this surface. Looking to make the most of the form. We’ll have to bowl well, use the variations, be accurate, playing shots is easy when there is plenty of pace on the ball.”

After Maxwell was dismissed off Pat Cummins, it was AB de Villiers who took on Kolkata’s death bowling and slammed 76 runs off 34 balls with the help of nine boundaries and three maximums.