India vs Australia: Glenn Maxwell reveals the approach he employed against Jasprit Bumrah

Glenn Maxwell has been headlining most cricketing talks over the last week or so. The 30-year-old Victorian had a phenomenal T20I series against India. He helped Australia register their first-ever T20I series win in India. It was also their first series win (across formats) in India in almost 10 years. Maxwell struck a fine half-century in the first game helping Australia chase down 127 on a tough pitch. He backed it up with a fantastic ton in the second, helping the visitors chase down 191 with a couple of balls to spare.

The Indian bowling attack has had the better of Maxwell more often than not. There have been a couple of tormentors for the Australian all-rounder. Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal have had Maxwell’s number in the shortest format. While Chahal has had success, Bumrah has dominated his battle against Maxwell. In fact, before the second T20I, India’s premier pacer had dismissed him six times in T20s and Maxwell’s strike-rate against him was just over 100.

But Maxwell was prepared for both his tormentors. He took Chahal to the cleaners as he scored 34 off 15 deliveries against the leggie. On the other hand, Maxwell scored 20 runs off the 9 deliveries he faced off Bumrah without taking a lot of risks.

Changed my approach to Bumrah a little bit

Bumrah bowled just a couple of deliveries to Maxwell in his first spell and the latter was able to score a six off a top-edge off the second ball. But when Bumrah came back at the death, Maxwell was well set and he played Bumrah really well. He took Bumrah for 12 runs in his third over bringing the asking rate down before targeting Siddarth Kaul. The Aussie all-rounder opted to play it safe in Bumrah’s final over and fetched just five runs off it.

Maxwell revealed that when Bumrah came back on it was key for him to attack else the pressure would mount. He also admitted that he tweaked his approach a little bit against India’s premier pacer. “I’ve sort of changed my approach to him a little bit. Been able to wait for a ball that’s slightly off and capitalise on that,” Maxwell was quoted as saying in The Times of India (TOI).

“I was able to get him for two boundaries in that over and keep the run rate in check. I was able to target Siddarth next over. And then we only needed 14 off 12 balls, which sort of made the 19th over – as long as we didn’t lose any wickets – pretty comfortable,” Maxwell added.

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