Maxwell upbeat ahead of Pak series

dubai — Australia’s batsman Glenn Maxwell will be looking forward to taking on Pakistan in a three-match T20I series starting in the UAE from Oct 24.

The opening game will be played in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 24 followed by matches at the Dubai International Stadium on Oct. 26 and Oct. 28 respectively.

Maxwell has fond memories in Dubai during the 2014 bilateral series against Pakistan. In the second ODI Maxwell scored 76 to help his team chase down the target and earn a player of the match award.

“It’s a beautiful ground; I have been lucky enough to have some success there as well. There was a one day game that we played there in 2014, I was able to score some runs and take some wickets in the T20I as well, hopefully we can get a decent crowd and really entertain them.”

“We are thoroughly looking forward to the challenge. We had a really good tri-series against Pakistan and Zimbabwe, recently in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, Pakistan got the better of us in the final. Hopefully we can improve our performance by one level and win the tournament (series) here.”

Maxwell and his team a are well aware of the threat posed by Pakistan, who atop the ICC rankings in T20Is. “They (Pakistan) obviously are a very strong unit, have played some really good T20 cricket over the last couple of years to get themselves to the world number 1 spot.

“We’ll have our work cut out, no doubt, guys like Fakhar Zaman, who has been outstanding, especially in that final (Tri-series in Zimbabwe 2018). They have got a good bowling unit.”