We want to win this series 5-0 and the T20s 3-0: Glenn Maxwell
Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell has revealed his team's keenness to complete a whitewash in their ongoing ODI series against India. The 27-year-old led his team to an unassailable 3-0 lead, with a match-winning knock of 96 runs in the third ODI.
"You've got to build up to. There are a few games before that here against India that we're looking forward to. But first up we have to win this series 5-0 which is something we're desperate to do and then hopefully we can win the T20s 3-0," Maxwell said.
Chasing 296, Australia found themselves in a tricky situation when they lost the wickets of Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade in quick succession, in the 36th and 39th over respectively. However, Maxwell guided his team to the victory, ably supported by James Faulkner (21) at the other end.
"I was pretty calm at that stage. When Faulkner came out I was hoping he'd score a bit more and I'd be able to sit at the other end and run with him.
"But he said he was just going to play normally so I said I'm going to take it on and take the pressure off. It worked the opposite to the way I wanted it to. But it worked out really well because I was able to target bowlers because they had a different field to me and they had a pretty standard field to him. It was a tough wicket to start on so it made me easier for me to improvise and hit it over the infield," Maxwell said.
Maxwell was batting at 96 when Australia needed just one more run for the win. The IPL star went for a big shot off Umesh Yadav in a bid to make a century, but was caught out by Shikhar Dhawan.
"I just wanted to hit it. Didn't care where it went, I just wanted to hit it over the infield if it went for one, two, eight, four. I was just trying to hit it," he explained.
It was Australia's third successive successful run chase in the series, and Maxwell feels that his team have justified the World No.1 rankings with their performances. He said, "I still remember the 400 chase in Johannesburg and it was 10-15 years ahead of its time. It's amazing the way our team has been playing and the way we've been approaching those chase. I don't think many teams are doing it like we are at the moment, as comfortably as it looks. To do it three times in a row is pretty phenomenal and probably shows why we're No.1 in the world.
"It's a backing from the coach to play with everything on the line and it doesn't matter if you die trying, as long as you give it a crack. That's what we've been brought up to do and we've been doing it really well this series."
However, Maxwell also praised how the Indian performed in the third ODI and the fact that they were able to take this match down to the wire.
"I thought they played really well today. Everything clicked for them. On a difficult wicket they probably got away from us in the last few overs. We look at the score with 10 overs left and they were 201 and they got to 295. They got away from us a little bit, which could have happened in the first two games but we bowled really well in those games.
"Their batting order clicked in this game and probably why it went down to the wire more than it did and we lost more wickets. We chased really well tonight like we chased well in the last two games," he added.
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