IPL 2022: Virat Kohli playing without captaincy burden is dangerous news for oppositions, says Glenn Maxwell

Virat Kohli nowadays looks “stress free” without the weight of captaincy weighing him down, a dangerous sign for the opposition teams in the forthcoming IPL, feels Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Glenn Maxwell.

Kohli, who resigned RCB captaincy after last year’s IPL, has also resigned from T20 and Test captaincy while being removed from ODI leadership role.

Maxwell feels that Kohli currently at this point is no longer the “in-your face” aggressive cricketer that he used to be and that has been pleasantly surprising.

“He knows he’s handing the captaincy over, which I think is potentially a big burden for him. It might have been something that’s been weighing him down for a while and now that he’s been able to release it, it might be dangerous news for opposition teams,” Maxwell told RCB Podcast.

“It is amazing for him to be relaxed a bit and actually enjoy the next few years of his career without any of that sort of external pressure. I think playing against him in earlier days, he was a fiery competitor, getting in your face. He’s always trying to impose himself on the game. Impose himself on the opposition.”

“Something I’ve noticed more from him this year is he’s been really measured with his emotions. He’s actually been really measured with his decision-making. He’s certainly really surprised me and probably how close we’ve both gotten to each other as well this year. Being able to talk about the game in a calm manner,” Maxwell said.

“Because you do see that over-excited, in your face style when you play against him. But to play with him and have really good conversations about the game, I’ve really enjoyed that.”