Australia and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) all-rounder Glenn Maxwell had a brilliant outing in the first match of the IPL 2021 when RCB faced Mumbai Indians in Chennai on April 9. RCB beat MI by 2 wickets thanks to AB de Villiers’ 48 and contributions from Virat Kohli and Maxwell.
This all happened thanks to Harshal Patel’s 5/27, the first-ever five-wicket haul against MI in IPL history as the defending champions were restricted to 159/9, with Chris Lynn top-scoring with 49 on his MI debut.
IPL 2021: ‘It certainly felt good’, Maxwell relishes hitting 2 sixes in his maiden outing for RCB
Glenn Maxwell was bought by RCB in IPL 2021 auction for Rs 14.25 crores and this despite him scoring just 108 runs in the IPL 2020 for Punjab Kings (PBKS). Maxwell has always been one of the most expensive buys in all the IPL auctions he has been involved in.
Maxwell, recently in a video posted by RCB, admits that he is a big beneficiary of IPL. He recounted how the IPL 2014 when he played for Punjab Kings (PBKS), he slammed 552 runs in 16 matches with 4 half-centuries at a strike rate of 187.25 and the highest score of 95. He hit 36 sixes and 48 fours in the tournament, where the Punjab team reached their one and only IPL final to date.
"I have been a massive beneficiary of the IPL. It is certainly fast-tracked my international T20 career, I have been able to experience the Indian conditions, we had an IPL in Dubai in 2014 and I was able to perform really well over there. After that, I got a bit pigeon-holed in Australia over being a sub-continent specialist. It got me a few ODIs and Test tours which I probably would not have been able to do so if not for the IPL," Maxwell said.
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"I still remember chatting with Sachin Tendulkar in my first year at the IPL, the fact the I was an Aussie, I joked with him, I think he liked that. He was brilliant with the sort of way he opened up his world to him. Every year you come to the IPL, it is a massive learning experience," he added.
Maxwell further recalled a funny incident where Virat Kohli called him and RCB spinner Adam Zampa idiots.
“There is actually a funny story, the day of the auction, we were training on the day of the auction in New Zealand while we were in quarantine. Adam Zampa had his RCB hat in his bag and he took out it, and he made sure to send a photo to Virat saying let's have Maxwell in our team.
It was like Zampa saying Virat congratulations, I have already given Maxwell his RCB cap. It all happened really well, it would have looked silly if it did not work out this way. Virat said you guys are idiots after Zampa sent him the picture," said Maxwell.
Maxwell also spoke about playing with his good friend Yuzvendra Chahal as both are the pranksters of the RCB team.
"I am certainly looking forward to playing with my little friend (Yuzvendra Chahal). He has already played a few pranks on me since I have been here. We were in the squad together in 2013 while playing for Mumbai Indians so we have been friends for a long time, we have been close ever since and every time we come up against each other, we hug before the game. We always try to have fun and keep smiles on the faces,” he said.
He also lauded the Indian talent in the RCB squad and said that it will push the foreign players to keep performing throughout the IPL 2021 tournament.
"I think I look at the depth of the Indian talent RCB has got, it is something that really excited me. It is pretty scary how talented these young kids are. It puts pressure on our international stars to keep performing. You want pressure coming from underneath, we have to make sure that we are performing for RCB. We have got specialist openers and very good Indian bowlers. You have Chahal, who is going to be massive for us this year," said Maxwell.
(ANI inputs)
