Internet Desk: Kings XI Punjab skipper Glenn Maxwell led from the front as he scored 44 runs in just 20 balls to hand his team a six wicket win over Rising Pune Supergiant in their Indian Premier League opener on Saturday. The Aussie power hitter was happy with his form and said he is hitting the ball well.
“I’m hitting the ball quite well. It’s nice to be comfortable. Feel like I can control. Nice to have the leadership and it’s giving me the extra bit of responsibility. Hopefully, we keep the winning form,” said Maxwell.
Maxwell lauded his team’s character after today’s match. In last two years Kings KI Punjab couldn’t perform well but today they came with a plan and executed it well on the field against Rising Pune Supergiant.
“Nice to start off at the new home ground and give some joy. It hasn’t been fruitful for us in the last 2 years. The way we came out with the bat and ball was pleasing. We just came in with positive minds and had our plans for each individual batsman. We were a bit off with the practice matches. In one of our practice matches, we scored just 130. Today’s wicket was bit slow and bit spongy. Was very happy to restrict them to what we did. Doing the job in first six is very important. That’s something which we didn’t in the last season,” added Maxwell.
According to Rising Pune Supergiant skipper Steve Smith, they were at least 20 runs short from their target. Pune lost some crucial wickets in the middle overs which was the reason that they couldn’t reach to 180 or more.
“Probably wasn’t quite enough (the first innings score). The wicket hardened up for the second innings. We needed around 180 to be competitive. The wicket was a bit tacky and it was tough to score against the new ball. We have to be a bit more aggressive and we need to play without fear. Could have gone little bit harder. We played well in the back end. To get to 163 was reasonable, but probably needed more than that. New season, you gotta move forward and try and rectify the mistakes from last year. We’ll try and get better with each and every game we play,” said Smith.