Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja
Known for his brutal strokeplay himself, Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was on Wednesday left impressed with a clean-hitting display from India's Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya in the third ODI here. Hardik (92 not out) and Jadeja (66 not out) shared an unbeaten 150-run stand which effectively won the game for India.
Asked whether the Hardik-Jadeja partnership changed the game in India’s favour, Maxwell said, "Yes, certainly, I think, the way the wicket was probably behaving through out, we had them 5 for 150 and one wicket away from I suppose the bowling line-up, so we knew we were one wicket away.
"But, unfortunately, the way they were able to play, they put pressure on, they (Hardik and Jadeja) accelerated and took the game away from us with some really clean hitting," Maxwell said at the virtual post-match press conference.
Maxwell, who hit 59 off 38 balls, also felt that the run out of wicketkeeper Alex Carey (38) was a key moment of the game that his team lost by 13 runs. “…I thought probably the changing point was the run-out of Carey, which was probably 100 per cent my fault.
"Unfortunately, when you sort of leave yourself with, we were six down at that stage, makes it little bit tougher, because you know one mistake, it can turn all around pretty quickly, I think that (Carey run-out) was probably a key moment of the game," he said.
He also praised Jasprit Bumrah saying the India pace spearhead “is a class-finisher” and also that the opposition bowlers bowled well in the death overs.
He also had words of praise for leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who ended the series with seven wickets.
"He (Zampa) has been exceptional for the last few years and has figured himself as one of the best leg spinners in the world in ODI cricket. He just seems to get the job done day in and day out...
"...he is accurate, he knows what he wants from his field, he knows what he wants from the game, just feel like he is reading the game really well. He sticks to his strengths and puts pressure on the batters.
"We saw how well he bowled in England, he was right up there as one of the players of the series and he just seems to get better and better," he said.
Cameron Green made his ODI debut and Maxwell was impressed with the 21-year-old bowling all-rounder.
"It was seriously impressive, and he has impressed a lot of people with the way he has gone about it, not just with the ball, the way he bowled to Virat (Kohli) that little spell, the way he fielded was exceptional for a big man to move like that.
"He is an extremely smooth mover. The way he went about his batting, took the game on, there are good signs ahead for him and he is an impressive young man," Maxwell signed off. The three-match T20 series, starting December 4, will be aired on Sony Six, Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3 channels.
