Kings XI Punjab captain Glenn Maxwell hailed Mumbai Indians’ Jos Buttler’s incredible knock after Mumbai chased down 199 in just 15.3 overs and lost only two wickets in Indore on Thursday.
Mumbai’s furious chase was built around a blitzkrieg from opener Jos Buttler who smashed 77 off 37 balls and Maxwell, in an interview with iplt20.com, hailed his knock and said he was “unbelievable and unstoppable”.
“Jos Buttler was just completely destructive,” said Maxwell. “Didn’t matter what we bowled, whether wide yorkers, slower balls, he hit everything and it makes it very difficult to set a field especially in the first six when you’ve only got two fielders outside the circle and for him to take the game away from us like that is just a very special knock.”
Maxwell, however, rued his team’s catching and pinpointed it as the cause that made the difference.
“We’ve probably missed too many opportunities so far this tournament. I think if you look at the teams that are on top, they’ve been taking their catches, they’ve been pretty clinical in the field and we’ve just been slightly off,” said the Kings XI Punjab skipper. “I think we gave a better showing in Hyderabad but still had two chances dropped and you can’t do that to good players as they’re going to make you pay. We saw that today, Jos Buttler was unbelievable and unstoppable but we did give him a chance and he does make you pay.”
Maxwell also praised his teammate Hashim Amla who scored an unbeaten 104 in an ultimately losing cause.
“A 100 is always a special achievement in a Twenty20 game and the way he [Amla] played was outstanding,” said Maxwell. “Anchored the innings, did a great job and unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough. It was just pure class. He does it quite regularly for us. He did it last year when he got 90-odd, he continues to do a great job for us at the top”
Despite the loss, Maxwell remained hope that the wins were “just around the corner” as he felt that his side were playing good cricket but were being unable to “finish out games”.