‘Hope India don’t pick him’: Glenn Maxwell laughs off speculation over Virat Kohli’s place in T20 WC squad

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who has been one of the reasons for lack of sleep of the bowlers in the last 18 months or so in white-ball cricket, has had a resurgent IPL career with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the last 3-4 years and has formed a great combo with the likes of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli. Maxwell mentioned that working and playing alongside Kohli has been a tremendous learning curve for him and as an opponent, he would not want Kohli in the Indian team, in the upcoming T20 World Cup.

There has been speculation over Kohli, who has been the star for India across several T20 World Cups, and his place in the squad for the 2024 edition of the marquee T20 event owing to his strike rate. Even in the ongoing IPL, he may be the leading run-getter thus far, however, he recorded the joint-slowest century in the tournament and had a 59-ball 82* against the Lucknow Super Giants and has found himself under the scanner.

When asked about those reports and speculations on ESPN’s Around the Wicket, Maxwell laughed it off saying, “I am hoping India don’t pick him (for T20 World Cup) because it will be great to not come up against him.

“Virat Kohli is the most clutch player I have ever played against. The innings he played against us in Mohali during the 2016 T20 World Cup is still the best innings I have ever seen been played against me. He changed the face of the whole game. His awareness of what he needs to do to win the game is phenomenal,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell admitted that there is pressure when the player is not in form but that doesn’t mean that players like Kohli shouldn’t be taken for a tournament like the World Cup. 

“It’s not surprising because there are 1.5 billion (people in India) and I reckon half of them are unbelievable cricketers in this country (laughs). It’s a hard team to get into. You look at India’s top T20 players who are all playing in this tournament (IPL 2024). They are phenomenal players and there should be heat on every player. If there are not playing well at a certain time, there is going to be heat on them,” Maxwell added.