NEW DELHI: Swashbuckling Glenn Maxwell made his 100th T20I appearance a memorable one, firing a breathtaking century to guide Australia to a thrilling last-ball win against India in the third T20I in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Slamming a 4th ton in the format, Maxwell hit an unbeaten 104 off just 48 balls in chase of a tall 223-run target.
Trumping Ruturaj Gaikwad‘s maiden ton in the format, Maxwell took the India bowlers to the cleaners in his brutal knock that included 8 fours and equal number of sixes.
Amid the heartbreak caused by the defeat, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav did acknowledge Maxwell’s incredible knock and lauded the all-rounder for his stunning stroke play.
“We just wanted to get Maxi out quickly (laughs), that was the plan. I told the boys in the drinks break to get Maxwell out quickly but what he did was insane,” Surya said in the post-match presentation.
Man of the Match Maxwell after the match pointed out that dew helped the Aussies and his plan was to take the game as deep as possible.
“The dew obviously makes it difficult to hold on to, we knew it was going to be hard work to bowl yorkers and there probably wasn’t a number in our head at the back-end to set ourselves to. We thought if we can stay in the hunt until the last over, we can give ourselves a chance, you never know it might come off the middle and you might stay in the game. We did really well to stay in the game until the final over. Knowing that Axar had one over left meant Wadey had to be out there to cash in and I was trying to take on all the pace bowlers and get the run rate a little bit under control. The way Wadey controlled the other end and got me through the back-end of my innings and he was brilliant out there,” said Maxwell.
With the win, Australia cut India’s series lead to 2-1 in the five-match rubber.
The next two matches will be played in Raipur and Bengaluru on December 1 and 3 respectively.
Slamming a 4th ton in the format, Maxwell hit an unbeaten 104 off just 48 balls in chase of a tall 223-run target.
Trumping Ruturaj Gaikwad‘s maiden ton in the format, Maxwell took the India bowlers to the cleaners in his brutal knock that included 8 fours and equal number of sixes.
Amid the heartbreak caused by the defeat, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav did acknowledge Maxwell’s incredible knock and lauded the all-rounder for his stunning stroke play.
“We just wanted to get Maxi out quickly (laughs), that was the plan. I told the boys in the drinks break to get Maxwell out quickly but what he did was insane,” Surya said in the post-match presentation.
Man of the Match Maxwell after the match pointed out that dew helped the Aussies and his plan was to take the game as deep as possible.
“The dew obviously makes it difficult to hold on to, we knew it was going to be hard work to bowl yorkers and there probably wasn’t a number in our head at the back-end to set ourselves to. We thought if we can stay in the hunt until the last over, we can give ourselves a chance, you never know it might come off the middle and you might stay in the game. We did really well to stay in the game until the final over. Knowing that Axar had one over left meant Wadey had to be out there to cash in and I was trying to take on all the pace bowlers and get the run rate a little bit under control. The way Wadey controlled the other end and got me through the back-end of my innings and he was brilliant out there,” said Maxwell.
With the win, Australia cut India’s series lead to 2-1 in the five-match rubber.
The next two matches will be played in Raipur and Bengaluru on December 1 and 3 respectively.