Virender Sehwag condemned captain Glenn Maxwell for humiliating loss

Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergiant took the field at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Sunday. Both the teams were pumped up. The stage was set, it was a done deal. Whoever wins the game, no matter by how big or small a margin advances into the playoff of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The fans present in the stadium thought they were in for a cracker. Surprisingly, they were in for a shocker, as the team mentored by Virender Sehwag offered no retaliation whatsoever.

Kings XI Punjab’s batsmen fell like nine pins in what was a clearly one-sided match. With a team that boasts of players like Martin Guptill, Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan one can hardly imagine they can be bundled out for 73. Only four batters reached the double digits, while Axar Patel was the lone warrior who crossed the 20-run mark. This humiliating surrender by the ‘Men in Red’ left many fans scratching their heads in fury, including their director of cricket operations and former Indian national team opener Sehwag.

Known for his straight-forward attitude, Sehwag blamed Kings XI’s foreigners for the horrifying loss. “I’m very disappointed. I can say that none of the foreign players took responsibility and at least play 12 to 15 overs. Their role was at least one of the top four should bat for 12-15 overs, but none of the batsmen took responsibility. I think they were complaining that the wicket was a bit slow, but when you play international cricket so much, you should get used to playing on difficult or good wickets,” he said.

“I think they’ll end up playing as much cricket as is their mentality. Perhaps they feel the T20 format is only for the entertainment bit and about fours and sixes. The wicket wasn’t that bad that we were skittled for just 73 runs. Even if we would have made 120-130, we would have still been in the game. Our batsmen have been extremely irresponsible today,” added Sehwag.

Sehwag blasts Maxwell 

He was particularly unhappy with KXIP’s Australian captain Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell came to bat after the fall of four wickets, which even includes Rahul Tewatia. He was not of much help for the away side as well, as he walked back to the dugout without scoring a run.

“We always knew when Maxwell fires, he can win the match on his own. But he didn’t fire in most games. That is a big disappointment, especially since he’s experienced, having played for Australia’s Test and ODI teams. He didn’t take the responsibility as a captain and didn’t perform for Kings XI Punjab,” he said.

The pitch was a two-paced one, but Sehwag felt that no Punjab batsman had the ability to hold an innings together. “We didn’t play at least four overs; 24 deliveries we missed and if we would have scored even 20-25 runs in those overs, we would have been close to 100 and put up a fight,” the owner of two international triple-centuries added.

Maxwell’s excuses

After a humiliating show, Maxwell decided to play the blame-game, as he cited the lost toss and the slow pitch as the reason for their failure. “The toss had something to do with it. The wicket was damp after a few days of rain. It was just about assessing the conditions. Everything went against us and we could not recover. We have lost our last five tosses. Unfortunately in the IPL, a lot can be decided by the toss,” said the Australian cricketer after the match.

With this loss, it is all but over for the Kings. Pune will be taking on the Mumbai Indians on the 16th of May at Mumbai’s home ground the Wankhede. MI have lost just four games this year, two of which were infiltrated by their Maharashtrian counterpart. With Punjab’s departure, focus has now shifted to the much awaited Maharashtra derby clash.