Sharjah: Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Watson is happy to see fellow Australians grab their share of the limelight in the ongoing Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 but only as long as they don’t overshadow his team.
Watson could do nothing to stop compatriot Glenn Maxwell thrashing his bowling attack all round the Sharjah Cricket Stadium as Kings XI Punjab chased down a target of 192 to win their match on Sunday night.
Maxwell, who has been the star of the tournament so far, plundered half a dozen sixes in his brilliant 89 from 45 balls. It was the 25-year-old allrounder’s second star turn after smashing a brutal 95 in Punjab’s opening match against Chennai Super Kings.
After Sunday’s match, which featured six Australian players, a crestfallen Watson said: “At this point in time, it doesn’t worry me that he is Australian or whether he is West Indian or whether he is Indian — just that we don’t want them to perform that well.
“Glenn did really well at the Twenty20 World Cup, really one of the lone hands in our campaign in Bangladesh, so he’s in great form. But we certainly don’t want him to score against us. He can over the next few games, but when we play him we’d like him to miss out.”
The Royals were well placed when half-centuries from Watson and Sanju Samson took them to 191 for five from their 20 overs. However, their plans were not to be as Maxwell, South African David Miller, who finished unbeaten on 51 from 19 balls, and India’s Cheteshwar Pujara, who remained not out on 40 from 38, took the Kings XI home with eight balls to spare.
Watson admitted that when Maxwell is in full flow, there is little the fielding side can do about it. “When someone like Maxwell goes off, it gets very difficult to contain him. He hits both sides of the wicket and makes it very challenging,” he said.
“We at Rajasthan Royals try to fight all the way through — we fight and take the game as far as we can — which we did, but then David came in and played a cameo nicely. Such powerful hitters make it quite difficult, especially in a smallish ground like this, to contain world-class players.”
Watson impressed with 50 from 29 balls with the bat and he took on Australia teammate Mitchell Johnson along the way. And he believes knowing an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses can be an advantage.
“You certainly know the other person’s game inside out. When you play some guys all the time, you certainly know where they are going to go to,” he said. “With Mitchell Johnson, you know there’s going to be a fast bouncer around your head, some change of pace, a yorker or something like that.
“With Maxwell, he can be very unpredictable with the way he plays. That’s what makes him extremely dangerous. So we certainly knew, but when players like that go off, even if you know him, it’s hard to contain him.
“I think Glenn Maxwell’s the player to beat at the moment. He’s doing an incredible job for Kings XI. He was a lone hand when they chased 200 [against Chennai] and tonight [Sunday] as well. If Glenn continues to play like that every game for the next 14 games, they are not going to lose. But everyone knows how cricket goes — it doesn’t always pan out that way.
“So, hopefully, the next time we play him, we’ll be able to contain him and a couple of others as well.”
