Maxwell has already established himself as a highly useful all-rounder
Former India leg-spinner Anil Kumble believes Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell will become the country’s next international superstar and will also be the face of the team if he continues doing what he has done so far in his relatively young international career.
Maxwell was recently bought by the Mumbai Indians for a whopping $1 million in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction and Kumble, who was hired by the franchise to be a chief mentor to all the players, stated that they had got themselves a “good catch”.
“For an emerging player it is big,” Kumble said. “He is an exciting player and a good catch for us. I knew him before he made his debut for Australia. He will be with the Australian team in India for the Test series, so [I’m] looking forward to [the] challenge.”
Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani was also excited about Maxwell’s signing, and said: “He is an upcoming youngster, we can bat, bowl, can spin the ball well and is a good fielder and Mumbai wanted a young all-rounder, we had thought about a few names and he is one of them.”
The Indians also picked up former Australian captain Ricky Ponting for $400,000 and both Ambani and Kumble firmly believe that he will be an inspiration and for a lot of the younger players in the side.
“We have two cricketing greats Ricky and Sachin [Tendulkar] and both will be inspiration for youngsters of the team,” Ambani said.
“It is nice to have Ponting in the team,” Kumble added. “He brings in leadership, he has a lot of experience and it will help the Ambati Rayadus and Roht Sharmas in the team. It will be a great presence in the dressing room.”
However, none of the teams bought a wicketkeeper during the auction, but IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla was unfazed by the surprising news and stated that it was totally up to the nine different franchises to decide upon which players they wanted.
“Franchises take a decision keeping in mind their requirement and they have wicketkeepers in their team, so it is there decision who they want to pick,” he said.