Australian limited-overs specialist Glenn Maxwell has revealed that he employed a very different strategy to counter Delhi Capitals’ Kuldeep Yadav at the Wankhede Stadium on April 16, saying that he aimed to hit the spinner towards the short boundary and was quite successful.
Maxwell smashed 55 off just 34 balls, while later in the innings Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 66 did the damage as RCB scored a competitive 189/5 and then restricted DC to 173/7 to make it four wins in six for the Bengaluru outfit.
Maxwell took 23 runs off Kuldeep Yadav in an over to begin RCB’s resurgence.
“When Kuldeep came on from that end, (I decided to) just hit it to the short boundary. I thought I’ll take him on that side, and I was able to get a hold of a few,” said Maxwell.
It was Kuldeep who proved to be Maxwell’s nemesis, though, when he came back to bowl as the Australian perished in the deep.
“But when he came back on the second time, we had lost that extra wicket, and that probably had taken away that aggressive intent which led to my downfall, being a little bit in two minds. So, good knowledge for next time, just sort of stay positive,” said Maxwell.
Maxwell said that he was really happy with the way Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed carried forward the momentum.
“DK (Dinesh Karthik) and Shahbaz (Ahmed) at the end were so good and got us to a total which we thought on this wicket was going to be really hard to chase, and once the dew came in, it evened up the battle again,” Maxwell said.
“The way our bowlers (also) performed, that was a really special effort with the ball. I think a lot of teams in the competition would’ve probably started using excuses of the wet ball, conditions, and the short boundary against them, but the way we were able to hold our nerve, was brilliant, and a real sign that the team is growing with confidence each game,” added Maxwell.
