Maxwell gets licence to thrill as Punjab rule over Hyderabad

The Australian misses out on a century for the third time in a row in as many matches, but Kings XI Punjab are riding high on the brilliance of the orange cap-holder.

Glenn Maxwell is the flagbearer of Kings XI Punjab so far this season. Pawan Singh / The National

Punjab 193-6 (20 ov)

Hyderabad 121 (19.2 ov)

Toss: Hyderabad, chose to field

Punjab: Maxwell 95, Pujara 35, Sehwag 30; B Kumar 3-19

Hyderabad: Rahul 27; Balaji 4-13, A Patel 2-20, Johnson 2-26

Man of the match: Glenn Maxwell (Punjab)

SHARJAH // The name is Glenn, Glenn Maxwell, and he bats incredibly swell.

A paid assassin of the Kings XI Punjab, he shares no bond with cricket’s plutocratic batting orthodoxy, the copybook elite. Maxwell, instead, has a taste for innovation and the outrageous. He also lives a charmed life.

Last night, he was dropped on 11 – a sitter at long off that his Australia teammate David Warner grassed. Then he was caught on 62, but off a no-ball. Darren Sammy had overstepped the crease and Maxwell was called back to keep the entertainment going.

He added another 33 runs but, again, missed three-figures. For the second time in three matches, he was dismissed on 95.

His earlier 95, against the Chennai Super Kings, had also come off 43 balls, but last night he smashed five fours and nine sixes – four of those maximums coming in the space of five balls.

Maxwell’s innings allowed the Kings to post an imposing 193 for six that the Sunrisers Hyderabad failed to get anywhere near, folding for 121 after losing their top three batsmen for just 33 runs inside the first five overs.

Lakshmipathy Balaji did most of the damage in the 72-run win, taking four wickets for 13.

Unsurprisingly, the performance earned Maxwell his third consecutive man-of-the-match award. In three innings, his lowest score is 89.

“Look, we can talk about Maxwell as long as we like,” said a disappointed Tom Moody, the Sunrisers coach.

“He is a wonderful striker of the ball. He is in incredibly good form at the moment, but when he gets dropped on 11 and then gets caught on a no ball, he’s going to hurt you. That’s what happened tonight.

“The bottom line is we didn’t take our chances against a player that’s in white-hot form and we chased 40 more runs than we should have.”

Last season, Maxwell played just three matches with the Mumbai Indians and faced a mere 27 balls. Mumbai bought him for US$1 million (Dh3.6m) at last year’s auction, but what were they thinking allowing him to leave? In 2012, he was with the Delhi Daredevils, played two matches and faced 11 balls.

The Kings XI owners must be laughing. In three matches this season, Maxwell tallies 279.

To put that figure in perspective, Michael Hussey, the winner of the Orange Cap (most runs) in 2013, scored 733 runs from 17 matches at a strike-rate of 129.50; Maxwell’s strike rate is an Indian Premier League chart-topping 189.94.

“What tonight showed is: take your catches, take your chances,” said George Bailey, the Punjab captain, referring to Maxwell’s dropped catches. “Through no fault of his own, he should have been out. But what he did do is that he struck the ball really nicely on a wicket the rest of us found a little difficult to score on.”

That is what a supremely gifted batsman brings to the table.

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