'Had put in a lot of work, starting to see the rewards now' - Glenn Maxwell attributes bowling success to pre-season work with Victoria

Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped a seven-match losing streak in the United Arab Emirates, handing Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians a soul-crushing defeat on September 26 to solidify their number three position in an increasingly heating up IPL points tally.

One of RCB’s victory’s chief architects was Glenn Maxwell, who seems to have put the torrid times of 2020 in the desert behind himself to deliver the goods for his team in some style. Maxwell had his worst IPL season in 2020 in the UAE, when he tallied 108 in 13 matches at a poor 15.42 and an uncharacteristic strike rate of 101.88. Someone known for his outrageous ball-striking abilities, Maxwell failed to put the ball beyond the boundary even once in 2020, which remains his most forgettable season.

However, that changed during the first leg of the 2021 IPL, when Maxwell bailed RCB out of trouble multiple times, playing a crucial role in his team’s number three spot placing at the time of season suspension. On Sunday, he mustered an all-round show to help his team advance towards another Playoff qualification.

True, the game would be most remembered for Harshal Patel’s hat-trick, but before the fateful 17th over, the game had only one hero in Maxwell, who smashed a 37-ball 56 before claiming 2/23 with the ball, which included the scalps of Rohit Sharma – the only MI batter alongside Quinton de Kock who managed to reach double digits – and Krunal Pandya.

And of course, it was a nice day for Maxwell and RCB, as he pointed out after his team’s victory. “It was a nice day. We did pretty much did everything right tonight. Virat [Kohli] and KS [Bharat] got us through the powerplay and set up a platform for us,” he said in the post-match conference.

The all-rounder attributed his bowling performance to a full pre-season with his state team Victoria. “To be able to have a full pre-season with my stateside Victoria, I put in a lot of work on my bowling and starting to see the rewards now.”

His bowling exploits aside, one of the most striking – but not unseen – aspects of his innings with the bat was the ease with which Maxwell played the reverse and switch hits, which he disdainfully worked out even against pacer Adam Milne.

“Yeah, it is something I suppose I have worked on a lot over the years,” Maxwell told post-match. “And it has become a really good strength for me. I suppose with that short side, I was trying to target that as much as I can. The wicket being a touch on the slower side, I felt I could wait for it, hopefully, get under it and cash in with the wind going that way as well.”