“You’ve got to take risks early”: Andrew McDonald supports Glenn Maxwell’s batting approach ahead of T20 World Cup 2022 opener against New Zealand

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has supported the batting approach of Glenn Maxwell ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Super-12 stage.

Australia will face New Zealand in their first match of the Super-12 stage at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on Saturday. The defending champions are considered one of the favourites to win the title this time around, and they would want to start their tournament with a win over their trans-tasman rivals.

Australia’s playing 11 is almost confirmed as George Bailey said that Steve Smith won’t feature in the playing eleven. The all-round trio of Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Marsh and Marcus Stoinis will have a big role to play in the tournament. However, the form of Glenn Maxwell is a concern for the side.

In 14 T20Is played by Maxwell this year, he has scored just 189 runs at a disappointing average of 15.75, whereas his S/R has been 115.24. 1, 0, 6, 0, 1, 8 and 8 are the scores of Maxwell in his last 7 T20Is. For Australia to perform well, Maxwell will have to be at his best with both bat and the ball.

Andrew McDonald supports Glenn Maxwell’s batting approach

Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald has supported Glenn Maxwell’s batting approach ahead of the T20 World Cup opener against New Zealand. McDonald insists that T20 is a high-risk game, and the batters will have to take that risk in the earlier phase of the innings to create pressure on the opponents.

McDonald said that taking the risk may result in the downfall of the batters, this kind of approach by Maxwell allows the other batters to play their best game.

“T20 is a high-risk game for batters, You’ve got to take risks early in your innings and sometimes that risk brings about your downfall,” Andrew McDonald said as quoted by cricket.com.au.

“It’s really the way he plays, the style he brings that makes others better around that.”

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McDonald clearly said that they don’t want Maxwell to change the way he plays and highlights that every batter goes through a bad patch in the T20s. He acknowledged that the recent performances of Maxwell have not been great, but was hopeful that a big knock is around the corner.

“We don’t want him to change too much. In T20s, batters’ form ebbs and flows,” McDonald added.

“He allows others to do their job well, albeit he probably hasn’t performed the way he would like at the moment, but you sense it’s just around the corner.”