After missing the first three games of Indian Premier League 2022, Australia’s Glenn Maxwell is set to play his first match of the season when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Mumbai Indians in Pune on Saturday.
Maxwell was one of the three players, along with Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj, who was retained by RCB, who have won two of their first three games in IPL 2022, ahead of the mega auction.
Speaking on RCB Bold Diaries, Maxwell shared his views on preparing for his first match this season, interacting with new captain Faf du Plessis, and more.
Here are excerpts:
On preparing for his first match in the IPL 2022 season...
“I’m glad I look fit, I don’t know. I don’t exactly feel it. I haven’t done much over the last few weeks. I was looking forward to getting over here. I know I had a week from when I landed to the first game that I was playing, so, I wanted to do that as preparation time and know that I can get myself up to match ready for that first game. I just can’t wait for the night to get back out there with the guys.”
On interacting with new captain Faf du Plessis...
“I’ve had a few messages before the tournament. I think I was probably more focussed on my wedding sort of before that. Knowing obviously that he was going to be the captain, I was in touch with the coaches right throughout the auction, and that process as well. (I) still wanted to be heavily involved in moulding our team going forward. I think that was a big part of the three guys that were retained. We had to have those guys involved to make sure we had the right balance going forward with that squad and we are really happy with the squad that we have accumulated.
“We’re really happy with Faf (du Plessis) at the helm. We think he’s going to do a great job for the franchise and even the way he started, you can tell he’s got the respect of everyone in the room. Not only does he lead by example, with his actions, but he also performs really well. To have a guy of his quality and caper up the top of the order is something that’s great for the franchise. And hopefully, the senior guys around can help him out as well. So, it’s not just him shouldering all that workload we’d potentially have seen in the previous years at RCB. To have, I suppose, a solid leadership group behind him to sort of feel like it’s not just him out there having to shoulder all the load. Hopefully, we can help him out at different stages. But we’re very fortunate with the squad that we’ve got. We believe it’s a winning squad.”
On the players this season that excite him...
“I’ve been watching, and I think Anuj Rawat our own (youngster), he’s very exciting. Who I have been really excited by actually, was one of the old fellas, Dinesh Karthik. He’s been awesome. Just come in great form. Old fella’s still doing it. I played with him in 2013 in Mumbai. Nine years later, we find ourselves back in the same change room. So, to see him go really well, and start well for us is awesome for us. We love having that depth in our batting order and he certainly gives it to us.”
Watch Glenn Maxwell’s interview on RCB Bold Diaries here: