Glenn Maxwell decodes RCB's specific role for him post game-changing knock against SRH

Royal Challengers Bangalore's new recruit Glenn Maxwell has talked about the specific role given to him by his new franchise after bagging the Man of the Match award for an outstanding inning against southern rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2021 clash at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday. 

Maxwell's quickfire knock helped RCB post a challenging total which they ended up defending successfully in the end.

'To start like this is really nice': Glenn Maxwell

"It's a very nice start, a 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. 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", said Maxwell during the post-match interview.

"The more I don't bowl and hopefully I can keep contributing with the bat, the happier I will be", he added.

RCB register their second straight win

Bangalore were reeling at 95/4 in the 14th over after being asked to bat first by Hyderabad skipper David Warner and that is when the Australian middle-order batsman stepped to the four and took the SRH bowlers to the cleaners as he played a counter-attacking knock. He was dismissed in the last ball of the innings for a brilliant 41-ball 59 including five boundaries and three maximums at a strike rate of 143.90 and took RCB to a fighting total of 149/8 from their 20 overs.

In reply, skipper David Warner (54), and, Manish Pandey (39) added 83 runs for the third wicket after Sunrisers Hyderabad had lost wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha cheaply and at one point it appeared as if they were cruising towards an easy win. However, once Warner was dismissed, it was just a matter of time before the Orange Army suffered a dramatic batting collapse.
The turning point of the contest came in the 17th over when left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed took three wickets in one over as he accounted for the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Pandey, and, Abdul Samad respectively. Afghan leggie Rashid Khan tried his best to keep the 2016 champions in the hunt but once he was run out going for a non-existent second run, it was curtains down for SRH as they were restricted to 143/9 from their 20 overs.

Glenn Maxwell was adjudged the Man of the Match for his scintillating batting performance.

(Image Courtesy: Twitter@IPL)