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Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) secured their third successive win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, after defeating Delhi Capitals (DC) by five wickets at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
After the victory against DC, Kings have reached the 5th spot in the points table.
The 69-run stand for the fourth wicket held between Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell took the game away from Capitals. Where Pooran smashed a blistering 53 off just 28 balls including 6 fours and three sixes, Maxwell assisted the Caribbean batsman with his 32 off 24 deliveries.
Maxwell did show some signs of getting back into his form, but it wasn’t enough to enshroud the questions raised over his place in the team. In the ongoing thirteenth season of the cash-rich league, Maxwell has come out to bat in 9 of the 10 matches, and the 32-run knock against DC was yet his highest.
In these 9 innings, Maxi has amassed only 90 runs at an average of 15 and a strike-rate of 103.44. Despite the poor run of form in the ongoing tournament, the KXIP management has continued to show faith in him.
“He is a great team man”: Rahul on Maxwell
Speaking about the same, KXIP skipper, KL Rahul said that the need for the team is to back the ‘match-winners’. He opened up on the criticism of Maxwell and remarked that the Aussie is batting well in the nets, therefore, it is essential to give him chances.
“It’s important that the team backs the match-winners. We know what Maxwell can do. When he comes good, he gives a solidity to the team, and he balances out the team pretty well,” said Rahul at the post-match conversation.
“He (Glenn) is a great team man. He has been batting well in the nets. It was important to back him. It was good to see him get time in the middle. Hopefully, he carries this good work into the coming games,” he added.
KXIP roped in Maxwell for a whopping cost of INR 10.75 crore during the IPL 2020 auctions.
