Glenn Maxwell backs Australia to lift T20 World Cup: 'Hard for anyone to stop us'

Australian hard-hitting batsman Glenn Maxwell believes it would be tough for other teams to stop Australia in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in UAE, despite their lean form in T20I cricket this year. He feels a sense of optimism around the group heading into the tournament, which will evolve as a winning formula for Australia. The World Cup in UAE will see the return of Steve Smith, David Warner, and Pat Cummins, who haven’t played for Australia for eight months, along with Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, and Kane Richardson, who haven’t played for six months. Skipper Aaron Finch also returns to the squad after being left out of the Bangladesh tour due to a knee injury.

Maxwell put his thoughts forward while talking about the team’s thinking process and hopes at the T20 World Cup. As mentioned on the official website of ICC, Maxwell said, “I think they’re very good. When this team comes together, I think we’ll slip straight back into us being in a great position. We’re all looking forward to it. You look through our lineup, we’ve got a team full of match winners and guys that on their day can take the game away from the opposition. I think that’s what it’s going to take. Any day when it’s one of our players’ chance to go and win us a game – if we can take that (chance) it’s going to be hard for anyone to stop us”.

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Maxwell added that, in order to win the tournament, Australia needs to get off to a good start of the tournament. He said that this is the key to many teams who have won the tournament in the past. Australia find themselves in a tough group alongside defending champions West Indies, world no. 1 ranked T20I team England and the disciplined South African side. Maxwell further accepted that there are no weak teams in the tournament and said if they play to their best, that will be good enough on the day. He further added that the IPL in UAE before the World Cup would add to Australia’s benefit, as some of the players will get a few games in the challenging conditions of UAE. Australia will start their T20 World Cup campaign against South Africa on October 23.

Image: AP