Dubai: Glenn Maxwell, the hero of the ongoing Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL), has been tactfully hidden from the media by the Kings XI Punjab team. Maxwell, despite being adjudged the player of the match in all three of his matches to date, has not been made available for pre-match or post-match press conferences.
A smiling Kings XI captain, George Bailey, attends all post-match meetings with the media and tactfully answers questions on Maxwell’s technique and approach. So when Maxwell won the player-of-the-match award for the third straight time on Tuesday in his side’s win over Sunrisers Hyderabad and was still kept guarded from the media, a journalist asked Bailey: “Why are you hiding Maxwell from the media?”
“We are not hiding him from media, check his Twitter please,” Bailey replied.
A look at Maxwell’s Twitter only showed up a picture of him and batsman David Miller with team owner and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta.
With Maxwell’s technique now being closely studied by all teams, it seems Punjab do not want him exposed too much, except to the IPL’s official website.
For Maxwell, the UAE has had a special place in his career. It was in Sharjah, the same wicket on which he cracked 89 and 95 in the ongoing IPL, that he made his One-Day International debut for Australia on August 25, 2012. His Twenty20 international career also took off in the Emirates, in Dubai, on September 5, 2012, against Pakistan.
Maxwell’s skipper Bailey could not contain his joy at his teammate’s incredible form. When asked if there’s any way teams can stop Maxwell, Bailey said: “[He] certainly blew them [Sunrisers] away tonight, but what tonight showed is: Take your catches, take your chances. Through no fault of his own, he should have been out. But what he did do is that he struck the ball really nicely on a wicket the rest of us found a little difficult to score on. It was hard to start, it was a little skiddy, holding up a little bit. So we were pretty sure that if we could bowl in the right areas, we had a pretty good total. He did a fantastic job to get us to that total.”
Maxwell’s strong point is that he does not allow the pressure to catch up with him, be it due to a tough wicket or adept bowling. Talking to the IPL website, he said: “I don’t get burdened by pressure. Pressure is something that you put on yourself. I put pressure on myself before a game or before I go out to bat. But once when I go out there to bat, I just enjoy it and have a little bit of fun. I look at the total and take it from there.”
Maxwell has hit 17 sixes in the tournament to date. Despite having talented batsmen such as Virender Sehwag, Bailey and David Miller in the squad with him, does he think he is the hardest hitter?
“I think Miller hits bigger sixes than I do. Bailey is similar to me. I just try to get them over the rope, but Bailey hits them hard and far. Those guys are massive hitters of the cricket ball. If there are times I fail, hopefully I don’t, I am sure at that time, those guys are going to go hard,” he said.
