I will play in the IND-T20 League until I can't walk anymore- Glenn Maxwell

Australia veteran all rounder Glenn Maxwell has recently said that he will play in the Indian T20 League until he ‘can’t walk anymore’. The 35 year old’s statement has come as a music to the years of Bangalore fans. 

“The Ind T20 League will probably be the last tournament I ever play, as I will play the Indian T20 League until I can't walk anymore," Maxwell said on Wednesday (December 6).

Maxwell has been a part of the celebrated league for more than decade now, starting out at Delhi in 2012. In the following year, he became the first million dollar player after Mumbai acquired his services for that amount in the bidding war. 

Yet his breakthrough season came in the year 2014 when he represented the Punjab franchise and scored 552 runs at a blistering strike rate of 187.75. By his imposing standards, he enjoyed only one decent season in the next five years before finally joining Bangalore in 2021. 

Maxwell stunningly repaid the faith (and INR 14.25 crore) invested in him by Bangalore with impressive season tallies for three consecutive seasons-with strike rates improving each season. Last season, he smashed runs at a splendid strike rate of 183.49- his best since that unbelievable 2014 season. 

“I was talking about how good the Ind-T20 League has been to me throughout my career; the people I've met, the coaches I have played under, the international players that you get to rub shoulders with, how beneficial to my whole career that tournament has been," Maxwell said.

"You're rubbing shoulders with AB [de Villiers] and Virat [Kohli] for two months, talking to them while watching other games. It's just the greatest learning experience that any player could ask for."

With the upcoming season of the Ind T20 League set to be played just ahead of the 2024 T20 World Series- in the West Indies and USA- Maxwell is optimistic of more Australian players getting a gig at the showpiece event. He believes this will make them more familiar with the Asian conditions. Five members of Australia’s triumphant World Cup campaign- Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins, Travis Head- will go under the hammer with a maximum base price of INR 2 crore in the auction on December 19.

“Hopefully a lot of our Australian players can get over to the Ind T20 League and get to work in slightly similar conditions to the West Indies, where it is a little bit drier, it will spin."

Maxwell, who will be at the helm of the Melbourne Stars camp in the Aus-T20 League also said that the men in yellow have already shifted their focus on the next big prize- the T20 World Series title. 

“As soon as we won this World Cup, we all talked about refocusing towards the next one. I'm hoping it's going be a really exciting summer for the Aus-T20 League, with what is just around the corner," he said.