Melbourne Stars’ skipper Glenn Maxwell talked about their preparations for the Big Bash League (BBL) Qualifier match against Sydney Sixers. The captain also talked about the absence of Sandeep Lamichhane and the return of Haris Rauf. The Qualifier will be played on January 31st.
Sandeep Lamichhane had to return back to Nepal for their upcoming tri-series against Oman and the USA. Haris Rauf returned after making his T20I debut against Bangladesh in the 3-match home series, which resulted in a 2-0 win for Pakistan.
Glenn Maxwell said: “As much as it is a shame to lose Sandeep we do get another overseas (player) back in Haris Rauf who has taken the BBL by storm. I think he has 16 wickets in seven games.”
“That’s pretty incredible for your first tournament, bowling fast on wickets that haven’t really had a lot of pace and bounce in most of the places we’ve played. So for him to get something out of them, he’s aggressive, he takes the game on and suits the Stars game plan down to a tee. Hopefully, he can produce the goods for us tomorrow night as well.”
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Maxwell talked about their recent performance in the Big Bash League (BBL): “I’m not too fazed. I think the way we’ve played this season has been pretty incredible and it’s pretty rare to lock away top spot with three games to go in the season and we were afforded the luxury of being able to rest a few players that had certain niggles. We were able to get guys through to make sure they were 100% for the finals. It’s worked out perfectly for us.
“To be able to play fresh guys at this stage of the tournament is very valuable.”
The winner of the Qualifier between Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars will directly qualify for the Final of the tournament, while the losing side will still have a chance to make it through to the Final through the Challenger match.
