IPL 2021: Maxwell Excited to Play Alongside The 'Pinnacle of the Game' Virat Kohli At RCB

Glenn Maxwell was bought for a whopping price of INR 14.25 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the mini-auctions for IPL 2021 held in Chennai in February. Despite having a poor season in the UAE in 2020 where the maverick Australian batsman could only muster 108 runs in 13 matches at a strike rate of 101.88, Maxwell attracted big moolah at the auctions and started a bidding war between historic rivals RCB and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) before ultimately being sold to the Virat Kohli-led franchise for a record price.

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Maxwell had expressed his desire to play for the RCB alongside his idol AB de Villiers prior to the auctions in February. He was also very keen to play under Virat Kohli who he has a lot of admiration for. Maxwell reiterated his excitement to play in the same XI as Kohli. He hailed the current Indian captain and called him the ‘pinnacle of the game’ for his dominance across formats.

“The RCB stint is going to be next level,” Maxwell told Australian Associated Press (AAP). Kohli has been the pinnacle of the game for a while as a multi-format player from Tests all the way to T20s. He’s been able to adapt his game, dominate for a long period of time and deal with the Indian pressure of being their captain and their best player,” stated Maxwell.

Maxwell is impressed with the leadership qualities of Kohli and wants to take a few lessons from the RCB captain during the season. “I’m looking forward to watching him go about his work, not just in games but in training, and hopefully tapping into some of the leadership stuff and try and learn from him.”

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The Australian batting all-rounder added that he had developed a good bond and friendship with Kohli over the years adding that the Indian skipper had given him his support when Maxwell took a break from cricket due to mental health issues. “He’s been a solid backer of my stance. In a way he probably understood a lot of the things that I was going through – a lot of expectation and pressure, which I’m sure he can relate to.”

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League gets underway from the second week of April in India.

• AB de Villiers
• Glenn Maxwell
• IPL 2021
• ipl 2021 auctions
• IPL auctions
• RCB
• Virat Kohli