KS Bharat
Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Glenn Maxwell lavished praise on his teammate KS Bharat after the Virat Kohli-led side thrashed Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets here on Wednesday.
KS Bharat and Glenn Maxwell stitched a stand of 69 runs for the third wicket. The duo smashed boundaries while rotating the strike, which kept the asking rate under check. Bharat was more impressive of the two, slog-sweeping Chris Morris for a big six before playing a gentle reverse sweep off Rahul Tewatia.
"Nice to be able to have a bunch of guys doing different things, instead of aligning with just one particular player. KS Bharat is a genuine top-class batter, won't call him batting at No. 3 as an experiment. It's working beautifully for us at the moment," Maxwell said after the match.
"We played really well, they got off to a flier but to bring it back in the last 10 was outstanding. I felt good from the moment I came here, got into a nice routine at training, it's clicking for me nicely as well," he added.
Rahman broke the partnership in the 16th over as Bharat pulled to fine leg. After Bharat's dismissal, Maxwell whipped Morris for a six over mid-wicket followed by three fours, the last of which brought up his fifty in 30 balls. AB de Villiers finished off the chase with a sweep through square leg off Parag to seal an easy win.
Chasing a modest score of 150, Bangalore hunted down the target with 17 balls to spare. The win now strengthens Bangalore's chances of making it to the playoffs.
