Maxwell reaping the rewards for his hard work, says Kings XI skipper George Bailey

In all praise for Glenn Maxwell, who is IPL 7 leading run scorer, Kings XI skipper and his Australian team-mate George Bailey, said that his compatriot was reaping the rewards for his hard work.


"You don't pick your own price and you don't pick yourself in the team. I don't think it was his fault, how little or how much he played last year. But what I see with him, when you see him play, you see the flamboyance and you see the extravagance but if you watch him train, you see a guy who works very hard on his game. There is a lot of thought and a lot of effort that goes into the shots that he plays," said Bailey, whose team is sitting on top of IPL table after an all-win record in the UAE leg of the league.

Bailey said that Maxwell had to work harder than the rest of team-mates as he had more shots to practice. “I have got only two shots and he has got 15. I think what the public sees of Maxi, there is also the other side of him that works very very hard. I think he is starting to see the rewards of that. I think he is starting to turn into the type of cricketer, that all-round cricketer, that we hope will delight us for many many years to come, said Bailey, adding that he was impressed with young Punjab pacer Sandeep Sharma, who has picked up seven wickets in three matches.

"He (Sandeep) has been awesome. His bowling has obviously been fantastic. But he is a great kid. Love his enthusiasm, love the way he trains. He is great around the team.

"I heard some things about how he impressed last year and how he progressed as the tournament went along and grew in stature and confidence. Like anyone, he still has got things to work on but to see that hunger, how much he wants to improve, how much he wants to get better is fantastic," he said.

However, a cautious Bailey said his team may have to start from the scratch as they play their first match in India against defending champions Mumbai Indians here on Saturday.

"Could not have wished for anything better. Great start there (UAE). It is great to have the start we have, but it is almost like starting from scratch again (now) that we are back in India," Bailey said at the pre-match press conference.

Bailey said it would be difficult to maintain the momentum of winning all the five games in the second leg of the Twenty20 League which has shifted to India.

"Realistically it is going to be tough because no one has ever gone through undefeated, and as I said in T20, it would be nothing short of a miracle. One of Sanjay's (coach Sanjay Bangar) big thing is to not worry too much about the result and just worry about the way we play," he said.