The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli’s record-equalling 20th half-century in T20I cricket went in vain as Glenn Maxwell’s knock of 113* off 55 balls helped Australia to register a historic 2-0 T20I series win at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The hosts failed to contain Maxwell as the Aaron Finch-led side handed Kohli his first series defeat at home as Indian skipper. The series loss was also India’s first T20I bilateral series defeat since 2015 when South Africa had beaten India 2-0 in the three-match T20I series.
Peter Handscomb accompanied Maxwell till the end as he made an unbeaten 99-run partnership. The two joined hands after Australia had lost D’Arcy Short and the match still in the balance. Highlighting his approach during the partnership with Maxwell, Handscomb said, “Happy to see Maxi bat the way he did. That was the best seat in the house to watch that and it was a privilege from my end. I’ve been working on that one (the shot over extra cover) so it’s nice to get done in the game and I was trying to get Maxi on strike and take the game as deep as possible.”
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Maxwell, who also scored a fifty in Australia’s thrilling last-ball win in Vizag, was once again at the forefront in Australia’s win in Bengaluru. Handscomb lauded the batsman after his third Twenty20 international century powered Australia to a series win.
He said, “Maxi stood up today and that can give the whole batting group a lot of confidence going forward. He (Maxi) is a freak. he can play all those shots that other people can’t play and he’s just maturing with each game.”
Chasing a tricky 191, Australia wobbled early in the run-chase. They lost both their openers – Marcus Stoinis (7) and captain Aaron Finch (8) – inside the first four overs. Maxwell then took center stage and smashed nine huge sixes, and seven boundaries, in just 55 balls as Australia chased down the target with two balls to spare.
Glenn received the man of the series award for his match-winning performance, talking about the same during the post-match presentation, he said, “We haven’t had a lot of success here of late. To come over here and perform as we have has started it off well for us on this tour. Having confidence in my game also has helped a lot and it feels great to contribute to two special wins.”
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Maxwell also stitched a decent partnership with D’Arcy Short (40 off 28 balls) as the duo conjured 77 runs for the third wicket. Following Short’s departure to Vijay Shankar, Peter Handscomb (20 off 18) did well to rotate the strike as they forged 99 runs for the unconquered fourth wicket.
Talking about the same, further, Maxwell said, “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 runs/over, we fancied to chase that down. After D’Arcy’s dismissal, it was up to 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.”
