All-rounder Glenn Maxwell has said the Australia players taking part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) when it resumes in the UAE next week will benefit the team at the T20 World Cup, which also takes part in the Emirates.
Maxwell is one of four Australia players, along with Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis and David Warner, set to play in the second stint of this IPL season, which was postponed in May in response to a worsening coronavirus situation in India before relocating to the UAE.
Similarly, the T20 World Cup was moved from India to the UAE and Oman – having initially been planned for Australia last year – and will follow immediately after the conclusion of the IPL season. The IPL final is scheduled for October 15, with the T20 World Cup to begin two days later.
Maxwell, Smith, Stoinis, and Warner all missed Australia's ODI and T20I tours in July and August, and while Smith was unavailable due to an elbow injury, the other three asked not to be considered for selection.
Australia's limited overs captain, Aaron Finch, had previously said that players who opted to skip the tours would find it "hard to justify" their participation in the IPL, although he has since backtracked on those comments, saying he "probably didn't take into account the toll the full summer took on guys".
However, Maxwell insists that the Australian players competing in the IPL can help the national team at the T20 World Cup as they will be able to adapt and acclimatise while also being involved in top-level competitive cricket in the format.
"Even if they're not playing, they're training with some of the best players in the world and getting used to it, and hopefully we're able to hit the ground running in the World Cup," Maxwell told cricket.com.au.
"I think it's a really good lead-in for the guys who are going to be over there. To be able to train in those facilities and acclimatise, it's going to be hot and to have that extra month there I think it will be valuable for those guys."
A depleted Australia lost 4-1 in both West Indies and Bangladesh and are currently the seventh ranked T20 team. Maxwell, however, was optimistic that Australia could win the T20 World Cup, the only major white-ball global trophy to have eluded them.
"One hundred per cent we can win it," he said. "I think we've got a great squad, and we've got a lot of experience in there.
"If you can get one or two players that are running hot at the start of the tournament, it can be hard to stop."
