Glenn Maxwell is a fantastic player, who fits out in the middle order: Mike Hesson
We are roughly 8 days away from T20 cricket’s biggest fiesta, the Vivo Indian Premier League 2021. Royal Challengers Bangalore have started their preparation for the upcoming season at Chennai. The Bengaluru-based club will kick off their season on April 9th, when they will face the defending champions Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Maxwell’s introduction to solidify the middle-order
"Glenn Maxwell is a fantastic player, and he fits what we require in the middle order," Hesson said on Wednesday. "We want some X-factor players, that high-impact player we've talked about. We've just found through the middle overs as an area [to work on], so to have another player of that quality just adds to the likes of AB de Villiers and a two-pronged attack through the middle overs and the back-end.”
On Maxwell’s all-round traits
"He is [clear], but just want him to spend a few days amongst his peers, the people he's going to be batting with to understand that role implicitly. It's really important we do that. Also, from a bowling point of view, we know he adds some good skills in that area. He's an amazing fielder, also adds some leadership in terms of how he goes about things."
Hesson on RCB’s IPL 2020 campaign
"Sure, we were pleased to make the playoffs, that was great, but we also identified some areas where we needed to improve," Hesson said. "And it wasn't some odd one-off performance, they were definite trends in terms of phases of the games that we wanted to tweak. I think we are also aware no team in the IPL is ever going to dominate every phase of the game with bat and ball, because we are obviously in competition with some highly competitive sides. But what it does mean is that, consistently in some areas particularly through that middle overs we needed to make a tweak in terms of our planning and preparation.”
The 46-year-old also explained what was the franchise’s thought process heading into the 2021 IPL auction.
"So that goes back to the auction, in terms of our auction strategy and how we thought about our side, not certainly about overhauling it. If you look at the current squad, we've got seven-eight players that played the majority of our games last year still with us. So it was not a matter of overhauling, it was a matter of tweaking and adding strength in certain areas.”
On RCB’s latest signing Kyle Jamieson
“Certain bowlers thrive in certain conditions. There will be some grounds where the ball will swing and bounce, and in those instances, (Kyle) Jamieson will be deadly in terms of what he can do. Once again, it is a complement of skills in terms of the balance we require on certain days. He is a power-hitter with the bat... That said, we won’t rely on one player… Putting out a highly competitive XI will be the key.”
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