A fantastic all-round display from Glenn Maxwell was the headlining aspect of RCB’s commanding victory over MI’s in Match 39 of the IPL 2021 in Dubai on Sunday. The Australian international played a fantastic knock in the middle-order and then bowled a game-changing spell with the ball to push RCB towards a resounding win.
The Australian maverick blasted a magnificent half-century (56 off 37) in the first innings to make sure RCB breached the 160-mark on a Dubai surface playing quite dry.
His brilliant knock included six fours and three sixes as he stitched useful partnerships with skipper Virat Kohli (51) and AB de Villiers (11) to propel the Challengers to 165/6 despite their end-overs hiccups.
But perhaps Maxwell’s biggest contribution for the night came during the second half. The usually disciplined part-time off-spinner was in his element and delivered a match-transforming spell of 2/23. Coming into bowl post the powerplay, Maxwell had the task to try to put the breaks on run-scoring after MI openers Rohit Sharma (43) and Quinton de Kock (24) had got their team off to a superb start.
MI had batted at over nine runs per over in the powerplay when the asking rate was a shade above eight. Rohit and De Kock maximised the field restrictions just as their team required and were looking to enter the second gear when Yuzvendra Chahal, as he has done so often for RCB, provided them with the breakthrough, getting De Kock out caught at the deep mid-wicket.
Taking confidence from that at the other end, Maxwell tightened up the screws on RCB and hardly gave away a thing. Soon a well-set Rohit got out to him when he tried to connect a big shot through the on-side. Gauging Rohit’s feet well, Maxwell bowled an off-spinner that dipped on the batter and didn’t allow him to get the alleviation. The Aussie part-timer also got left-hander Krunal Pandya out bowled in his impactful spell.
Maxwell and Chahal were the real heroes of RCB’s win, as they not only pulled the game back post the powerplay but also ensured RCB’s weaker suit – their fast-bowling – had enough cover and pressure on batters of the asking rate to take advantage of. Chahal was at his best on the night, taking 3/11 off his four overs.
Harshal Patel, the current purple cap holder for IPL 2021, benefitted the most from Chahal and Maxwell’s brilliance, as when he bowled near the death, the likes of Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya were now staring at an asking rate of above 10 runs per over.
Patel had bowled a couple of tight overs as well in the initial phase of the innings and came back to clinch a rare T20 hat-trick, dismissing Pollard, Hardik and Rahul Chahar off successive balls while the game situation forced the MI batters to take big risks and they made glaring errors in their judgement of his yorkers and slow off-cutters.
MI’s horrible middle and lower order collapse meant that they were bundled out for 111 inside 19 overs. In a sorry-looking scorecard, no one after Rohit and De Kock, reached double digits. It was MI’s third straight defeat for the UAE leg and RCB’s first from three matches.
On the bowling front as well, it was an iffy day at best for MI, who at one hand had Trent Boult (1/17), Krunal Pandya (0/27) bowling miserly, but on the other, Adam Milne (1/48), Rahul Chahar (1/33) and even Jasprit Bumrah (3/36) being slightly expensive. Bumrah’s figures, admittedly, were ruined by one bad over where De Villiers struck him for a four and a six at the end.
Apart from Maxwell’s stellar exploits and Chahal’s outstanding spell, captain Kohli with his measured fifty and wicketkeeper-batsman Srikar Bharat with his attractive cameo of 24-ball 32 also made vital contributions for RCB on the night.
Brief scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 165/6 (Maxwell 56, Kohli 51; Bumrah 3/36, Boult 1/17) beat Mumbai Indians 111 all out (Sharma 43, de Kock 24; Patel 4/17, Chahal 3/11) by 54 runs
