Glenn Maxwell was the deciding factor with the bat in both the games for his side in the T20I series as the all-rounder scored match-winning knocks in both the matches to lead Australia to a series victory.
In the first T20I, his innings came on a tough track while in the second game, he stood up for his team when Australia needed him the most, scoring 113* off 55 out of 194 that Australian batsmen scored.
In total, Maxwell scored 169 runs in the series to win the Player of the Series award. He was also the Player of the Match in the second T20I.
Starting from the second T20I, he came out to bat when Australia were two down for 22 in four overs.
He had a clear job in hand; to up the run-rate and also finish the game, not leaving it for anyone else.
He did his job to perfection and took on the Indian bowlers, sending them on a leather hunt by hitting as many as nine sixes.
He shared runs 99 runs for the fourth wicket with Peter Handscomb. The latter’s role was limited to just allow Maxwell to play more and more.
Maxwell first targetted spinners in the middle overs and continued to add runs in the final overs as well, seeing Australia chase down a big target and win the T20I series.
“It feels really good. We haven’t had a lot of success here of late. To come over here and perform like we have has started it off well for us on this tour. It helps a big bulk of T20 cricket in the domestic tournament back home. Having confidence in my game also has helped a lot and it feels great to contribute to two special wins. Was a pretty good wicket and we could afford to wait for the loose balls. We knew that it could be easier against the quicks, anything around 12 rpo, we fancied to chase that down. After D’Arcy’s dismissal, it was upto me to drive the rest of the innings. Handscomb did a great job in giving me the strike all the time. We had a lot of chaos in the last game but we corrected that tonight,” he said.
In the first T20I, he had scored 56 off 43 but could not finish the task.
The match ended on the final delivery with Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson scoring 14 runs in the final over bowled by Umesh Yadav.
Today, though, Maxwell ensured that he was out there till the end and in no situation, did he look in pressure.
Not having an experienced pacer apart from Jasprit Bumrah cost India big during the T20I series.