‘Looked like his IPL career was over then he got a call from Kohli. Can you imagine?’: Brian Lara on Maxwell turnaround

IPL 2021: The fifty in Dubai was Maxwell’s fourth of the season, and former West Indies captain Brian Lara feels a lot of the credit for the Australia batsman’s change in fortunes goes to Kohli.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) registered a comfortable seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday to get to 14 points. Another win and RCB would strengthen their chances of securing a place in the playoffs. Contrary to the previous several seasons, RCB have staged a stellar turnaround in the last two seasons, and a big reason behind it is the collective efforts of all players.

Harshal Patel has gotten wickets, Virat Kohli has given the team good starts and Glenn Maxwell has offered the finishing touches. On Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, Harshal set the tone with a three-wicket-haul, and although Kohli could not notch up his third consecutive half-century of the season, Maxwell did register his second fifty on the trot. Maxwell remained unbeaten on 50 as RCB won their seventh game of IPL 2021.

The turnaround of Maxwell has been nothing short of extraordinary. Having scored only 108 runs from 13 games last year for Punjab Kings, Maxwell has not looked behind since coming on board the RCB unit. The fifty in Dubai was Maxwell’s fourth of the season, and former West Indies captain Brian Lara feels a lot of the credit for the Australia batsman’s change in fortunes goes to Kohli.

“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 said on Star Sports.

After spending seasons with Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indian briefly, Maxwell was acquired by RCB during the IPL 2021 players auction after an intense bidding war saw RCB and CSK going toe-to-toe to get the services of the big-hitting Australia. In the end, it was RCB, who shelled out ₹14.25 crore, and while it may seem to be a hefty sum, Maxwell’s returns for the franchise this season doesn’t make it feel so.

“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,” Lara added.

With Thanks, Reference to: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/his-ipl-career-was-over-then-he-got-a-call-from-virat-can-you-imagine-101632966497372.html