We can peak right towards finals: Glenn Maxwell

The Royal Challengers Bangalore rode roughshod over the Chennai Super Kings to bag their sixth win of the season in an emphatic all-round display. The batters came together to pile up 173 while the bowlers pulled off another phenomenal show to derail the Chennai batters.

It took them a staggering three games to break free and definitely a special showdown from all their cricketers. Despite a shaky middle-order, two youngsters in the form of Rajat Patidar and Mahipal Lomror staged an excellent revolution to turn the game on its heels.

After a wonderful display with the ball, Glenn Maxwell opened up about the crucial spell that was instrumental in shaping the fortunes of the game. Talking about the entire bowling unit of RCB, he said, “It was a really good bowling effort. We felt there was enough tackiness in the wicket to exploit with our spinners and then for our quicks to hold their nerve at the back end with some really powerful death hitters, they did a great job to finish that game.”

“With the way that Moeen Ali and Jadeja bowled in the first innings, it showed that the finger spinners were getting a bit of hold and getting a little bit of grip out of the surface. For me, it was just about trying to pitch the ball on the stumps as much as I can and try to vary the seam angle to try and get that variable spin out of the wicket. It was helpful to have a couple of lefties out there where I was able to turn the ball away from the bat and just give us another option at the back end as well,” he added.

Maxwell spoke about how he would change the angles for the right-handers to allow them very minimum room. “[Bowling around the wicket to the right-handers] I think it just shuts down one side of the ground. With the Robin [Uthappa wicket], if I do that from over the stumps, it becomes more of a pull shot for him which is more of his strength. To be able to cramp him up and not give him a free swing was key at that stage,” he revealed.

Being one of the senior members of the side, he would also focus on the momentum that the team secured through their win against the Chennai Super Kings. “We've gone through troughs in this tournament so hopefully we can ride this momentum. Winning momentum is hard to stop and we feel like our batters are starting to hit the middle of the bat more and more. With our bowlers starting to gel, we feel like we're starting to go in the right direction. Hopefully, we haven't left it too late and we can peak right towards finals and find a way into that top four and do some damage in the finals," he concluded.