Mohali: Kings XI Punjab captain heaped praise on Glenn Maxwell and Thisara Perera after the five-wicket win against Hobart Hurricanes here on Thursday and promised his team will get better in the Champions League T20.
“A terrific innings from Maxy and TP [Perera] there, it takes some courage to come out when your team is in a bit of trouble and go for your shots,” said Bailey, who stayed unbeaten alongside Perera (30 runs off 25 balls) to take the past Hurricanes 144 for six in 17.4 overs.
Kings had started the chase badly and were 51 for four in eighth overs. Maxwell’s innings of 43 changed the game.
Bailey (34 off 27), who plays for Hurricanes in the Big Bash League back home, was as kind to his Australian team as the one he is going to captain in the tournament. “I think Hobart have a very nice team, they lost today but they can challenge,” he said of the team who were also playing their first CLT20.
Bailey lauded the effort put by Kings bowlers, especially medium pacer Anureet Singh. “Anureet Singh didn’t get much of a chance in the IPL with a broken thumb, he was outstanding with the ball, that one over at the death. We (Kings XI) slotted back in really quickly, not our best game with the bat but we will get better.”
Hurricanes skipper Tim Paine said: “Didn’t get off to a good start with the bat... with the ball we gave it a good crack ...”
Hurricanes, who made their tournament debut alongside Kings, recovered from a shaky start to make 144 for six after Bailey won the toss and decided to put the opposition in.
Kings had a disastrous start to their chase with Virender Sehwag caught at third man off Doug Bollinger (2/30) on the very first ball. The hosts, high on international stars, were expected to chase down the target easily but the Hurricanes bowlers dashed that expectation by making the opposition batsmen uncomfortable through sheer pace.
Wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha (11) joined Manan Vohra at the crease came after Sehwag’s failure. He could not do negotiate the serious pace for long and scooped a simple catch to Shoaib Malek at mid-on.
Ben Hilfenhaus (1/30) was equally effective from the other end and took the important wicket of David Miller (0) to leave Kings reeling at 23 for three in the fourth over. The southpaw from South Africa went for the big shots straight away only to be caught at mid-off.
Soon after Vohra’s lacklustre innings came to end, making it 51 for four in 7.3 overs. All Kings’ hopes now pinned on their dangerous overseas player Glenn Maxwell and he did not disappoint. He instantly made his presence felt in the middle by hammering fellow Australian Bollinger for a straight six.
Maxwell, one of the stars of IPL-7, went on to smash four boundaries and another maximum in his blazing knock. The Kings camp knew they will be home if the ‘big show’ stayed any longer.
