Ahead of the Men’s ODI World Cup, Australia’s big-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell feels that he now has a nice clarity on his bowling powers and the things he needs to do on the field with his part-time off-spin set to play a crucial role in the tournament.
Maxwell, who arrived in India late due to recovering from an ankle injury, picked 1-34 from eight overs while hitting 77 off 71 balls, including smashing six sixes in the warm-up match against Pakistan as Australia got a win by 14 runs under their belt.
Just a week ago, Maxwell had taken career-best figures of 4-40 off 10 overs in a consolation Australian victory over India in Rajkot. His part-time off-spin will be very crucial in forming a spin pair with leg-spinner Adam Zampa in this World Cup, where Australia’s campaign begins from October 8 against India in Chennai.
"The ball's coming out as well as it ever has. I'm probably at that place in my career where I don't …. (need) to train as much with my bowling, I've just got a real nice clarity about how it's coming out and what I need to do," Maxwell was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
He also said that he will be fit to shoulder the dual workload of batting in the middle-order and bowling his ten overs of off-spin. "There's always that weariness I suppose mentally: 'How's it going to go tonight?' But once I get moving, I'm absolutely fine. We tested a few things out."
"I had two different spells out in the field (against Pakistan) and bowling as well just to see how the ankle reacts when it is put under a bit of duress. My warm-up is probably a little bit more structured these days. I used to just run out and go 100 per cent and I was fine."
"But (now) there's a little bit more thought around how much time I spend out there in the warm-up and certain little drills I have to do. For me personally, that was a perfect test to see how it goes under different bits of duress," he elaborated.
Maxwell also hoped that his vast experience of playing in India gives him and Australia some advantage. "It's been a place I've traditionally batted pretty well in. I feel like most of our side has had so much experience and so much time over here. You're used to the cultures and used to the little intricacies that come with being a tourist over here."
"It doesn't feel as much as a home advantage (for India) as it probably has in previous years, especially the first few years we came over I remember it did feel foreign. I'd say there's guys here who'd have more than 10 tours to India and spend upwards of three months every year here."
Also Read: LIVE Score "It's not as foreign and it feels like an open World Cup where anyone can win, and these conditions might bring everyone in as well. We're going out there just trying to play our best cricket on the day and if it doesn't quite work then (we'll) turn up the next game and try and do the same thing. I think (that's) probably relaxed everyone a little bit," he concluded.