‘Can you imagine getting a call from Virat Kohli?’ – Brian Lara on Glenn Maxwell changing his fortunes in the IPL

Former West Indies legend Brian Lara stated that Glenn Maxwell’s IPL career has turned around for the better after the latter joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the 2021 edition of the league. Maxwell had a disastrous outing in 2020 after he scored only 108 runs at an average of 15.42 and a strike rate of 101.88.

Quite astonishingly, he didn’t hit a single six in the previous season. But despite his poor form, RCB shelled out a massive amount of INR 14.25 crores for him in the auction back in February. Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders were also involved in a bidding war, but the Challengers ended up bagging him.

Lara said that going by the way Maxwell played in 2020, it seemed like the end of the Victorian’s career in the cash-rich T20 league. Lara mentioned that Maxwell’s confidence has leapfrogged after joining Kohli’s men.

It looked like his IPL career was over, says Brian Lara

“In the 2019 and 2020 IPL, he was in very poor form and he was like that the entire IPL, not only for Punjab Kings. It looked like his IPL career was over. I’m going to use one person’s name here and that is Virat Kohli.

“Can you imagine getting a call from Virat Kohli to come join RCB. And I believe just by that, his confidence would have grown and that’s all you need sometimes,” Lara was quoted as saying on Star Sports.

“When you play football, you play for other clubs trying to one day get into Manchester United. He moved from Punjab Kings to RCB, and of course, it has done wonders for him,” he added.

In IPL 2021, the 32-year-old Maxwell has been the standout batter for RCB, having scored 350 runs at an average of 38.88 and a strike rate of 141.70. He has notched four half-centuries with a top score of 78.

In fact, he is the leading run-scorer for RCB ahead of the likes of Kohli and AB de Villiers. In RCB’s previous game against Rajasthan Royals, Maxwell scored an unbeaten 30-ball 50 and took his team to a seven-wicket win.

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