Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Glenn Maxwell did miss out on a half-century in the first match for his new franchise, but he reached the milestone on Wednesday, in his second match of the season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Maxwell scored 59 off 41 balls laced with five boundaries and three sixes. This is his seventh in the tournament history and his first in IPL since the 2016 season, on May 4, 2016, for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), against Kolkata Knight Riders. That implies a difference of 1807 days and 40 IPL innings. In terms of matches, it is the fourth-most difference for a player between his two fifty-plus scores. Yusuf Pathan Stands atop with a difference of 49 innings.
Maxwell's 59 helped RCB recover from Rashid Khan's brilliant 2 for 18 that reduced the team to 109 for six in the 17th over. Maxwell scored 26 off 13 balls in the death overs before falling in the final delivery of the innings.
Earlier in the evening, RCB were put to bat first and lost Devdutt Padikkal early but Virat Kohli and Shabaz Ahmed guided the team to 47 for one at the end of PowerPlay before SRH spinners left them wounded. Shahbaz Nadeem picked one wicket and Rashid picked three in the middle overs while being ably assisted by Jason Holder who dismissed the RCB skipper for 39.
