Glenn Maxwell: The Australian all-rounder is vary of the potential damage his IPL captain can cause in Australia in the next two months.
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Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has admitted to over-training during his stint with Kings XI Punjab in the 13th season of the Indian Premier League in UAE.
“I’ve actually put the tools down for a bit, just trying to work on a bit of fitness and have a bit of a run around to stay mentally fresh and get ready for what’s a big summer to come. I’ve probably overdone it a bit, as far as training goes in the UAE,” Maxwell was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
Maxwell, who revealed needing “bit of a break” upon returning to Australia, sounded unperturbed about his form in IPL 2020. In 11 innings for KXIP, Maxwell’s 108 runs had come at a disappointing average and strike rate of 15.42 and 101.88 respectively.
“I went pretty hard there, so came back and felt like I needed a bit of a break and the Cricket Australia staff here have been really good, having a talk through that and making sure each individual has the best plan going into the next series.
“I’m sure it will be fine. I was hitting the ball fine [in the IPL]. I just wasn’t getting much of a crack but that can happen,” Maxwell said.
Glenn Maxwell jokes about dismissing KXIP captain KL Rahul during India’s tour of Australia 2020-21
Contrary to Maxwell, Punjab captain Lokesh Rahul finished the season as its highest run-scorer on the back of his 670 runs coming at an average and strike rate of 55.83 and 129.34 respectively. The right-hand batsman had also crossed the 50-run mark on six occasions in IPL 2020.
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“He was a gun,” Maxwell said of Rahul. “We had a team meeting the other day and they came to me and asked how I thought we should get him out, and one of things I said was try and run him out.
“So, I think that’s what we’re going to try and do the whole way through the series, try and run him out and hope for the best. He’s a great performer … got a great temperament, great head on his shoulders and is extremely calm in pressure situations,” Maxwell added.
Rahul, who has made his way into the 18-member Test squad as well, might have to wait to play his first Test in the last 15 months. Having said that, the 28-year old player should play each of the six white-ball matches which will begin from November 27 in Sydney.
Opening up regarding a budding rivalry between Australia spinner Adam Zampa and India captain Virat Kohli at the highest level, Maxwell expects both the Royal Challengers Bangalore players to be at the top of their game especially while playing against each other from next week.
“He’s [Adam Zampa] been very good against Virat [Kohli], and one of the key things is having good match-ups against their batsmen. Adam’s obviously had a pretty good time against Virat in recent history, but you can guarantee that Virat’s working just has hard to combat that.
“He’s an incredibly hard trainer and hard worker, and you know he’s putting in all the work to combat our attack in any way possible,” Maxwell concluded.
