Glenn Maxwell made an impressive start to the 2021 IPL campaign with RCB, scoring 39 off 28 deliveries in the 160-run chase.
RCB's newest acquisition, Glenn Maxwell made his debut for the franchise in the 2021 edition of the tournament on Friday, as the side defeated Mumbai Indians in the opener of the tournament.
Maxwell, who had a poor IPL 2020 campaign with Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), made a strong start to the campaign, scoring 39 off 28 deliveries in the 160-run chase. The Australian all-rounder was sent above RCB star AB de Villiers in the batting order.
The side's captain Virat Kohli has revealed the reason behind the decision.
"The thinking was that we wanted to give Maxi some balls at the start and not get him slogging right away. You saw the result today of him playing 10-15 balls. His innings was the game-changer," Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
"Had he stayed in we would've finished a couple of overs earlier."
There have been a number of changes in batting positions for the franchise, as Washington Sundar opened the innings alongside captain Virat Kohli, who also returned to a permanent opening role for the first time since the 2016 edition.
Sundar opened in the absence of Devdutt Padikkal, who was advised rest after recovering for COVID-19 earlier this week.
While Rajat Patidar batted at three, Maxwell followed him at number four in the order.
de Villiers was once again crucial to RCB's win, as he played a 48-run knock in merely 27 deliveries to steer RCB to a thrilling win.
"The opposition gets nervous about AB. We have depth in the batting which we want to utilise," Kohli said.
"AB is probably the only player who's so versatile and can do what he did on slow pitches today, so we have to understand. If there's a partnership on, you might see a totally different order. But in a tricky chase, you want some options in the back end, where the opposition thinks it's not over till he gets out," the RCB captain further said.
