Maxwell on a tear in the IPL

GLENN Maxwell has quadrupled his Indian Premier League output in 2021 after blasting a third consecutive half-century in a positive sign for Australia ahead of the T20 World Cup with several of his national teammates stuck watching, not playing cricket.

One of the few members of the Australian squad actually playing cricket ahead of an October 23 World Cup opener, Maxwell has been outshining the likes of Indian superstar Virat Kohli and South African dynamo AB de Villiers for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Maxwell is RCB’s leading run-scorer in the 2021 tournament, having smashed 407 runs with a team-high 19 sixes, with scores of 56, 50 not out and now 57 in his past three innings, having batted five times since the competition resumed last month.

It’s a marked turnaround for Maxwell, who managed only 108 runs in 11 innings in the 2020 IPL, when he was playing with the Punjab team.

Also at the IPL, Steve Smith has had just two hits for the Delhi Capitals while Aussie opener David Warner is watching on from the sidelines, having been dropped.

Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has taken six wickets in five games for Chennai, but his attacking partners Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are in Australia, bowling in the nets.