Australia’s swashbuckling batsman Glenn Maxwell had a tough time during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in UAE.
Playing for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Maxwell had aggregated only 108 runs with a strike-rate of 101.88 in 13 innings. No wonder, he was not retained by KXIP last month.
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Maxwell has now listed his base price at INR 2 crore for the IPL 2021 auction, scheduled for February 18 in Chennai, and former India opener Gautam Gambhir expects the Australian cricketer to fetch a hefty sum.
According to Gambhir, RCB may go after Maxwell in the upcoming auction.
"There will be a couple of teams who will be eager to go into the auctions and buy the players they want. There is Kings XI Punjab, there is RCB, who will be looking to get some players to get their balance right. These sides will be very, very active in the auctions," Gambhir said on Star Sports during the Lunch break on Day 1 of the 2nd Test between India and England.
"I feel Glenn Maxwell (will go big under the hammer). He has not set the IPL on fire apart from one season in 2014, he has been very, very cold. People say hot and cold, but he has been very cold.
"There are teams who will be looking at someone like Maxwell. Surely, RCB will be looking at him. That is my personal opinion. Anything can happen at the auctions. But I feel Maxwell will go to RCB," he added.
Gambhir further explained why RCB would like to rope in someone like Maxwell, who can do a lot of damage in the later part of the innings.
"Because if I look at their entire batting line-up they have got, Virat Kohli will definitely be looking to open the batting, because that is where he has been most successful. Padikkal has done very, very well for them in the previous season. Then they have got AB, and then they can have someone like Maxwell - the X factor," the ex-KKR captain remarked.
"And at Chinnaswamy, where he has done very well. Whenever he has played at Chinnaswamy, he has won games for Australia. So, I think, Maxwell will go to RCB. Depending on how much RCB will give for him, but I feel he would go for a lot of money," he concluded.
