Glenn Maxwell found his lost touch by returning to some kind of form by scoring a vital 24-ball 32 against Delhi Capitals as Kings XI Punjab secured a 5-wicket win on Tuesday. Glenn Maxwell has scored only 90 runs averaging a dismal 15 besides picking wo wickets so far in IPL 2020.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) bagged their third successive win to move to 5th spot with 4 wins in 10 matches having 8 points in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, beating No. 1 ranked Delhi Capitals (DC) convincingly. They won against RCB, MI in Super Over and Delhi Capitals to move up from the bottom position.
Glenn Maxwell Is A Great Team Man: KL Rahul
The victory saw KXIP’s middle-order batsmen finally rising to the occasion after the reliable opening duo of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal departed early. Both KL Rahul who has 540 runs and Mayank Agarwal who has 398 runs are among the top 3 run-getters in IPL 2020 so far. Shikhar Dhawan of Delhi Capitals who has 465 runs after hitting his second successive century against KXIP occupies the 2nd spot.
The match also saw Glenn Maxwell who is under pressure for not scoring runs in crucial situations find some lost form by scoring 32, but it wasn’t enough to bury all questions over his place in the team.
Glenn Maxwell has come out to bat 9 times in the 10 matches he has been a part of this season for KXIP, but has accumulated only 90 runs at an average of 15 and a below-par strike-rate of 103.44 with 32 against Delhi in the concerned match his best. Fans have been asking the franchise to axe the Australian for another player in the team, but the management has continued to show faith in him.
KXIP skipper KL Rahul spoke to media after the match and opened up on the criticism of Glenn Maxwell and asserted the need for the team to back the ‘match-winners’.
“Glenn is a great team man. He has been batting well in the nets. It was important to back him. It was good to see him get time in the middle. Hopefully, he carries this good work into the coming games,” he said.
Glenn Maxwell was roped in for Rs. 10.75 crores and remains one of the costliest buys of IPL 2020. Although his performance with the bat has been moderate, the veteran all-rounder also has the ability to bowl right-arm off-spin and has picked up two wickets so far at an economy rate of less than 8 per over.
IPL 2020: Glenn Maxwell Should Be Backed – KL Rahul
KL Rahul, however, remains confident of Glenn Maxwell’s ability and highlights the balance he brings to the team and the fact that he has been batting well in the nets.
“Glenn has been batting well in the nets. He is a great team man and we know the balance he brings to the table,” he said.
Kings XI Punjab are placed 5th in the IPL points table, just two points adrift of 4th placed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). A couple of more victories might as well see the Kings XI enter the top four for the first time this season after being placed at the bottom of the points table at one time.
Shikhar Dhawan became the first batsman to score two successive centuries in IPL history as Delhi Capitals scored 164/5 as apart from his 106, the others failed. In reply, although KXIP lost 5 wickets Nicholas Pooran top-scored with 28 balls 53 as KXIP won with one over remaining.