Kings XI Punjab captain Glenn Maxwell had a rare failure in the Indian Premier League on Saturday after he was dismissed for a second-ball duck against Delhi Daredevils. Maxwell attempted to take on leg-spinner Amit Mishra and ended up top-edging it to the fielder at the deep midwicket boundary, even as Punjab slumped to 65/5 in their chase of 189. Punjab would succumb to their second straight defeat this season, following their two opening wins.
In the post-match press conference, Maxwell took umbrage to a question doubting his ability to play leg-spinners in the IPL. “That’s a shocking question,” Maxwell said. “Do you understand in the last three games I’ve hit leg-spinners for six repeatedly? S*** question.”
Maxwell has a point. In the three previous matches this season, he has scores of 44 not out off 20 balls, 43 not out off 22, and 25 off 14, the last one coming in a defeat. If you look at his numbers against spin bowling, Maxwell has scored 59 runs off 32 balls this season, including four fours and five sixes, and has lost his wicket to them just once – to Mishra on Saturday.
If you further break down Maxwell’s performance against only leg-spinners this IPL, here are his numbers, as compiled by cricket.com.au:
Yuzvendra Chahal: Six balls, nine runs, one six
Rahul Chahar: Six balls, 12 runs, one six, and one four
Imran Tahir: Six balls, 15 runs, two sixes
Piyush Chawla: Five balls, 16 runs, one six, and two fours
Amit Mishra: Two balls, zero runs, once out
Maxwell was pretty blunt throughout the press conference. Asked what Punjab’s weaknesses were against Delhi, he said, “The weaknesses tonight were basically everything – batting, bowling, fielding were pretty average.”
Asked if his team’s bowling attack is weak, he said, “It’s not about the quality of our dressing room, it’s about executing [our plans] on the day. In the last two games, we haven’t executed [our plans], it’s as simple as that. It’s probably going to get to a point where I’m going to start picking uncapped players who are willing to execute and back their plans because right now it’s not happening.”