Australia batter Glenn Maxwell is heading into the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on the back of a stunning performance in the IPL 2021 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where he also got the opportunity to spend time with modern-day greats such as Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
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In 15 matches for RCB this season, Maxwell aggregated 513 runs at an average of 42.75 with a strike rate of 144.10. No wonder, his confidence is sky-high in terms of batting form.
Moreover, it was the time he spent with Kohli and De Villiers that has left a lasting impression on him. In fact, Maxwell feels like being "10-feet tall" after having trained alongside the RCB legends.
"Every day was a learning experience, every day I was I was finding something new out – I was being a sponge to Virat and AB, just watching the way they go about things," Maxwell told reporters from the United Arab Emirates, as quoted by cricket.com.au.
"That's always been the one thing in the IPL I've been extremely thankful of – the opportunities that it gives you to learn off the best players in the world.
"I was extremely fortunate to have two of the greats of the game in the same team and in the same batting line up and were open to sharing their experiences and talk to me about their game.
"It makes you feel 10-feet tall when you've got your backing and they're watching you or asking you questions. It just makes you feel confident, it just makes you feel happy. It was just nice to have a nice, comfortable environment."
The second phase of IPL 2021 was held in UAE, where Maxwell smashed 290 runs at an average of 41.43 and a strike rate of over 140.
The conditions will be the same during the T20 World Cup and the 33-year-old is confident of replicating the success.
"If I continue the process I've been doing at the IPL, I know I'm going to have success," he said. "It's a nice position to be in mentally that I've come off a good run of form. I'm not overthinking the stuff in-game."
Maxwell also highlighted that batters have found scoring tough in the last five overs in these conditions.
"I don't think it's going to be (scores in the) 220s and 230s that people have come to expect from small grounds like Sharjah," he said.
"In saying that if someone gets in from the Powerplay and gets going, anything can happen because if you get used to conditions you can certainly make the most of them and dominate a team.
"But the trend of the games over here has been (that) it's been really tough in the last four or five hours – the ball gets softer, the bounce almost disappears. There weren't too many people that (scored) over 10-an-over for the last five overs.
"It's not like I suppose other places around the world where you can cash in later on. I think it's about cashing in at the front end and then try to hold off as long as possible."
Australia will open their T20 World Cup campaign against South Africa in Abu Dhabi on Saturday (October 23).
(Inputs from cricket.com.au)
