On this day, April 23, 2023: Glenn Maxwell heroics as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Rajasthan Royals. It was the 32nd match of the Indian Premier League 2023 between RCB and RR. Royal Challengers Bengaluru were batting first and lost the wicket of Virat Kohli in the first ball of the game. It was a huge blow to the home side and Rajasthan Royals were right on top. Shahbaz Ahmed was promoted to Number 3 but it did not work as he was dismissed cheaply and RCB were in all sorts of trouble at 12/2 after the first few overs.
Glenn Maxwell joined Faf Du Plessis and the duo put up a terrific partnership to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru get back in the game. Both batters completed their half centuries but the innings of Glenn Maxwell was in particular very impressive as he took on the bowlers straight away. Faf Du Plessis fell for 69 runs from 32 balls as RCB were 139/3 in the 14th over. The other batters down the order could not step up as wickets kept falling.
Glenn Maxwell was dismissed for 77 runs but had done enough damage to take RCB to 189/9 at the end of the first innings. It was a terrific recovery and Maxwell batted at a strike rate of more than 175 in this knock which helped his side put up a good score on the board. Rajasthan Royals lost the big wicket of Jos Buttler early in the chase and were dented early.
Devdutt Padikkal along with Jaiswal stitched up a 98 run partnership in very good time as they kept the run rate in check and Padikkal went past a half century as Rajasthan Royals were right back in the game. RCB bowlers pulled things back brilliantly and kept picking up wickets as Royals ended up with 182/6 and Bengaluru won the match by seven runs. Glenn Maxwell was the player of the match.
