RCB's big bet on Big Show paying off

When Royal Challengers Bangalore, with a rich history of making some of the bizarre buys, splurged a whopping Rs 14.25 crore on Glenn Maxwell at the IPL auctions this February, the general opinion was they don’t seem to have learnt from previous mistakes. There was enough evidence for this thought.

Maxwell, nick-named the Big Show for his audacious stroke play, was an utter flop in the IPL. Barring the 2014 season where he scored 552 runs and played a key role in Kings XI Punjab (now called Punjab Kings) finishing runners-up, Maxwell struggled to live up to his enormous potential. Prior to the start of this season in April, Maxwell averaged a poor 22.13 in 82 games — a major reason why Punjab got tired of persisting with him and released him.

Franchise or club sport is dotted with many examples of how a change in teams can change the fortunes of the player. A recent example is footballer Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian moved to Chelsea in 2011 from Anderlecht and then to Everton and Manchester United without looking the world-class striker he wanted to be.

Things changed dramatically after he signed up for Inter Milan and the strapping Lukaku ended up becoming one of the fearsome strikers in the world, even forcing Chelsea to re-sign him for a club record 97.5 million pounds ahead of this EPL season.

Maxwell’s arrival at RCB has not only given fillip to his IPL career but strengthened the team’s brittle middle-order too. What has made Maxwell, with three successive fifties, more potent now is his shot selection and intelligence. It’s no secret that Maxwell, a strong player of both spin and pace, is blessed with all the shots in the book but what brought about his repeated downfalls was his poor shot selection and impatience. In a bid to assert his supremacy in the immediacy of his arrival at the crease, Maxwell would end up perishing in going for broke prematurely.

That has changed completely now. He now bides his time at the start, assesses the conditions well and then picks the bowlers and the side of the ground he wants to go after. Take the 56 he scored against Mumbai Indians in Dubai. Aware that one side of the ground is shorter than the other, Maxwell unleashed his famed switch hits repeatedly to offset Mumbai. Against Rajasthan Royals in the next game at the same venue where he scored a 30-ball 50, Maxwell banked on his strengths, often smashing the bowlers over the midwicket region.

Maxwell then made light of the slowish Sharjah surface on Sunday where many big-hitters have found it hard to get going. Punjab’s Moises Henriques was running riot by effecting three quick dismissals but Maxwell counter-attacked exceptionally. Although the ball was gripping, Maxwell, employing his strong wrists, kept sending the ball soaring into the stands. In a 33-ball 57, he clobbered four sixes and three boundaries as RCB posted 164/7, the highest total in the second leg at Sharjah.

From averaging generally in the 15-20s, Maxwell now has aggregated 407 runs in 12 games this season to average 40.70 at a strike rate of 145.35 and lead RCB’s batting charts. Maxwell’s contribution is not just limited with the bat. A more than effective part-time off-spinner, Maxwell has picked up three wickets, often giving skipper Virat Kohli the valuable couple of overs he seeks from non-bowlers. Maxwell’s fielding too has been electric, a facet of the game Kohli gives immense importance to.

Although RCB have been helped by the blossoming of young talents this season, it's Maxwell's resurgence that has made a big difference to their fortunes.