Australia will aim to continue dominating India: Glenn Maxwell
Sydney, March 21 (IANS)
Australia's power-hitting batsman Glenn Maxwell on Saturday said they have to be at their best and will look to dominate an in-form Indian side in the World Cup semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Thursday.
“India are a very good side, they wouldn't be here in the semi-finals if they weren't a good side. We have to bring our A-game forward when we play them this week,” Maxwell said.
India had a disappointing summer in Australia when they lost the four-match Test series 0-2, followed by an even disastrous One-Day-International (ODI) tri-Series, where the visitors failed to win even a single match, something that Maxwell believed would be playing in their opponent's mind on Thursday.
“I think we targeted them pretty well this summer. They haven't won a game against us all summer and I hope that is pretty clear in their memories,” the 26-year-old said.
“We have been dominant all summer in the ODI format and hopefully we can continue it.”
“IPL is different to the World Cup”
When asked if playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and having faced the Indian bowlers would be beneficial for him, Maxwell said, “The IPL is a bit different to the World Cup in terms of pressure and situations.
“I bat at No.6 and there are still five guys ahead of me who are going to be batting first. Hopefully they can make the most of the conditions. My job is to finish it off.”
The swashbuckling batsman is looking at an even contest between bat and ball instead of stressing on a contest between Australia's bowling and India's strong batting.
When asked if the team will have any special plans for India's premier batsman Virat Kohli, he made it clear that they will go ahead with the similar plans which they had during the Test and ODI tri-series.
“We haven't had a team meet yet but it will be pretty similar to the summer,” he said.
“We did pretty well during the summer against him. I am sure we will go ahead with similar plans and we will have a few tricks up our sleeve,” Maxwell added.