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Video of Maxwell’s 57 in 33 balls : RCB vs PBKS

Clout NewsOctober 3, 20210 Comment0678

RCB vs PBKS, 03 October 2021, 03:30 PM IST

RCB score 164/7 at the end of 20 overs.

This is the highest score at Sharjah this season. The innings can be divided into three halves – the Kohli-Padikkal phase, the Henriques show and Maxwell’s carnage. RCB started positively with yet another 50+ opening stand but lost their way in the middle with three quick wickets. Henriques put the brakes on for Punjab and just when they seemed to get a hold of the game,

Maxwell entered the frame. He took on the spinners and smashed them to all parts, bringing up his fifty off just 29 balls. What his innings has done is, it has given RCB a very good total to defend. The surface is tricky and don’t be fooled by how easily Maxwell batted. This is going to be an interesting chase for Punjab.

RCB vs PBKS Match Overview:

There are some patterns to how Royal Challengers Bangalore are playing these days. They are big on matchups, even if it means having to chop and change their XI every other game. They are efficient with their middle-overs bowling. They may not be maximising their batting just yet but there are indications the openers want to go harder in the PowerPlay to offset their modest striking rate through the middle.

A second successive Playoffs appearance, which a win against Punjab Kings will assure, will mark a significant achievement for the once-inconsistent franchise since it embraced the Mike Hesson model after 2019.

All of that, however, is getting slightly ahead of ourselves. Standing in their way and a stress-free league phase run-in are Punjab Kings, who have become something of an anti-RCB in this small time period. PBKS are now the league’s chaotic entertainers that RCB once were. They also match up well against this RCB (more below), better than many teams. It is with this tactical and psychological advantage that KL Rahul will fan his side’s hopes of making a late run into the Playoffs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Srikar Bharat(w), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Daniel Christian, George Garton, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh

Virat Kohli: “We’ll bat. Looks like a really nice and hard wicket. We understand that the pitches tend to slow down here, precisely why we want to bat first and put pressure. We are playing the same side. We feel we have enough depth in all departments in our lineup. We got Harshal into our side on a trade and that is a signal to the players.

He has understood his role. Maxwell has been moving around a lot and we gave him the freedom, and he is enjoying his time here with us as well. To be honest, this pitch looks much better than the last game we played here. If we play well, we could get those 20-25 extra runs which could be the difference. You need to make sure you get those runs and not leave them on the field. You need that momentum.”