IPL 2021: Maxwell fifty steers RCB to 149/8 against SRH

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 14 (ANI): Glenn Maxwell scored a gutsy half-century to ensure that Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), despite losing a flurry of wickets in the second half of their innings, set up a 150-run target against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday evening.
RCB were 91/2 in 12 overs and the Bengaluru based franchise lost four wickets in 4.4 overs which saw them collapsing to 109/6. AB de Villiers, Washington Sundar, and Daniel Christian all failed to leave a mark.
In the final three overs, RCB scored 39 runs thanks to some brilliant hitting by Kyle Jamieson and Maxwell, who was dismissed on the last ball of the innings.
Earlier put in to bat, RCB had a decent start before Devdutt Padikkal departed in the third over. Padikkal had smashed Jason Holder for two fours in the second over but the opening batsman wasn't able to carry forward the momentum.
Shahbaz Ahmed, who was promoted up the order, had his fair share of chances where he smoked a four but Shahbaz Nadeem got the better of him as RCB lost the second wicket just after the completion of powerplay.
The next few overs saw skipper Virat Kohli and Maxwell scoring at a sluggish rate before the Australian all-rounder whacked two sixes and one four in Nadeem's final over.
But SRH again came back in the game with two quick wickets of Kohli and de Villiers. While Holder dismissed Kohli in the 12th over, Rashid sent the former Proteas batsman back in the hut in the next over.
Maxwell tried to carry on the innings but the Australia all-rounder ran out of partners as Sundar and Christian got out in quick succession leaving RCB reeling at 109/6.
In the death overs, Maxwell kept slogging the ball to complete his gutsy fifty (his first since 2016 in IPL) as RCB went past the 140-run mark.
Brief Scores: RCB 149/8 (Virat Kohli 33, Glenn Maxwell 59; Jason Holder 3-30) vs SRH (ANI)