May 29 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Veteran Australia opener Usman Khawaja came in support of his teammate Glenn Maxwell after his poor show in the Indian Premier League ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024. Maxwell had a forgettable season with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and faced heat for his poor show with the bat as his team once again failed to win the trophy.
Maxwell scored just 52 runs in 10 matches, and his highest score was 28 in the recently concluded season. He registered for ducks including one in the eliminator clash against Rajasthan Royals as he faced a lot of heat from some cricket critics for his poor show throughout the season despite a big price tag involved with him.
The Australian all-rounder has been playing IPL since the 2012 edition and has registered a 500-run plus season only twice in his career, which has put him under the scanners. It would be interesting to see whether RCB retains him for next season.
Khawaja made a bold statement calling IPL form not relevant and said Maxwell has done well and won matches for the Australian team for years.
“The IPL form is absolutely irrelevant. Maxy’s proven himself time and time again. Any player who’s performed over a long period of time understands that you can’t perform well every time you go out there,” Khawaja told the West Australian.
Khawaja said that T20 is a high-risk format and Maxwell look to attack the bowlers from the first ball and he won’t change his game despite a flop IPL season.
“You take a few risks, particularly if you bat in the middle order, and T20 cricket’s not easy. But (for this tournament) if he gets one good innings, he’s away. It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past. He’s not going to change his game and nor should he. Just keep going. He’ll find it,” the veteran opener added.
Maxwell has been picked in the Australia’s 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup where he will look to replicate the same form he had in the ODI showpiece event last year.
The tournament will begin on June 1, with the United States and Canada playing the opener.
Australia open their T20 World Cup campaign against Oman in Barbados on June 5, before Group B fixtures against England, Namibia and Scotland.
