After conceding the Twenty20 International series 2-0 to Australia, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that the team management wanted to try out few players and check how they react under pressure, and also heaped heavy praise on Glenn Maxwell who scored a superb unbeaten century.
“Pretty short series to summarize the performances. Australia outplayed us in all departments and deserved to win. 190 is a good total on most grounds but if there is so much dew as there was tonight and when you have an innings like what Glenn Maxwell played, nothing much you can do," Kohli, who himself scored 72*, said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We would have liked to get across the line in at least this game but I can’t be too hard on the bowlers due to the amount of dew. We wanted to give everyone some game time, we’ve seen how they react under pressure, there is a series coming up and we’ll try more things. It’s upto them to deliver the goods. The good thing was that the Bangalore wicket was back to normal and you could trust the lengths. I enjoyed myself but it didn’t really matter as we lost the game."
Australian captain Aaron Finch lauded Maxwell but said it was Adam Zampa’s (0 for 23) spell that made the difference.
“Anytime that you can win any kind of series against India in India is truly special. Glenn Maxwell was truly sensational tonight but I thought Adam Zampa was the difference between the two sides. To go for just 23 runs on that kind of a wicket was really remarkable," he said.
“We’ve been on a journey for the last 10-11 months building upto the World Cup and there has been some pain during the journey. We’ve done well to take the blows but also have made some progress, hoping to peak at the right time for the World Cup."
Maxwell, who was named as the Man of the Match and Man of the Series for his effort, said he is now more confident about his game and wanted to take the responsibility of getting Australia over the line.
“It feels really good. We haven’t had a lot of success here of late. To come over here and perform like we have has started it off well for us on this tour. Having confidence in my game also has helped a lot and it feels great to contribute to two special wins," he said.
“Was a pretty good wicket and we could afford to wait for the loose balls. We knew that it could be easier against the quicks, anything around 12 runs per over, we fancied to chase that down. After D’Arcy’s dismissal, it was upto me to drive the rest of the innings. Handscomb did a great job in giving me the strike all the time. We had a lot of chaos in the last game but we corrected that tonight."
Peter Handscomb, who scored a composed 20* and shared a match-winning 99 run-stand with Maxwell, said he was just trying to give Maxwell more strike.
“Happy to see Maxi bat the way he did. That was the best seat in the house to watch that and it was a privilege from my end. I was trying to get Maxi on strike and take the game as deep as possible," he said.
“This will give us a lot of confidence going into the ODIs and it’s something we spoke about in the team meetings and we wanted to make sure we got in-batters at the end as it was batters job to do. Maxi stood up today and that can give the whole batting group a lot of confidence going forward. He (Maxi) is a freak. he can play all those shots that other people can’t play and he’s just maturing with each game."