Maxwell relishes the added bowling responsibility

"Well, I think I was the No. 1 spinner in 2015 when we won it, so I've been bumped back to number two."

Glenn Maxwell had one of those typically beaming smiles on his face as he shot down in jest a question about whether he thought he was a 'specialist spinner'. In his defence, he did out-bowl Adam Zampa, the official specialist spinner in the squad, during Australia's opening World Cup game in Chennai. To his credit, Maxwell was indeed the lead spinner during his team's title-winning campaign at home in 2015. More importantly, he's been bowling as well as he's ever done in the lead-up to the tournament this time around.

There was the match-winning spell of 4/40 in Rajkot a couple of weeks ago, followed by a pretty impressive spell against Pakistan in the warm-up game in Hyderabad last Tuesday (October 3). And in very dewy conditions at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday (October 8), Maxwell managed to hold his own during the Virat Kohli-KL Rahul partnership, going at only 4.10 an over in his eight overs. Even as Zampa struggled to come to grips, literally, to the conditions and was expensive.

"As I said after Rajkot, got the ball coming out really well and also I've probably haven't worked on anything specific. I've just got a real clarity with the way it feels coming out of my hand. It was probably a little bit different the last couple of overs the other night where I was basically putting five fingers on the ball and hoping it got down there (other end) with one bounce and didn't throw it straight over of the batter's head," the all-rounder said with a giggle.

The 34-year-old did admit however that as well as he was bowling, the strategy of using him in short spells was important. And put it down as being the reason why it might have seemed like Rahul and Kohli weren't really going after him in his early overs.

"I don't think they intentionally wanted to sit on me, they probably saw me as an option to score against and that was why I had a couple of short spells to try not to give them too much of a read on me. I got maybe two balls to react differently off the wicket where they hit a crack or hit a dry spot and went and that just shows a little bit of doubt in the batter's mind," he explained.

Maxwell, who ironically had his most successful year with the ball in this format in 2015 when he played ahead of Xavier Doherty as the spin-bowling all-rounder, also said that having a specified role with the ball was helping him settle into his job a lot more. Interestingly, Maxwell also has noticed an alteration of sorts to how he bowls to left-handers and right-handers in the current format of ODI cricket with only four fielders allowed on the boundary during the middle overs.

"We beat the bat enough to create chances (the other night in Chennai) we just weren't able to get the edges in the end. That's going to be my role to be the holding pattern for as long as I possibly can. And if they play a bad shot and get out to me, perfect, if they play bad the other end and (we) get a wicket, perfect. So that's just the role, I'm probably not going to blast a side out and get five-for, it's probably just going to be a slightly different role," he said.

"I feel like I've got good control and I think with the four fielders out and bowling to a lot of right handers I'm able to sort of control the scoreboard a little bit easier. It's a bit different with a left-hander on strike so it's probably changed a bit in one day cricket were bowling to a lefty you might have a better wicket opportunity but bowling to righty, you can sort of shut down one side of the field. Sort of work on his ego and sort of see what they're trying to do and try and get a read on where they're trying to hit."

While a lot of Maxwell's batting might seem like it comes down to pure instinct and gut, he did insist on being very meticulous in his preparation with the ball, and how he studiously monitors the batters that he's going to come up against as Australia travel around India for the next month and a bit.

"I do a lot of homework on the opposition. I watch a lot of games. I sort of know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and you try and get a read of their setup or the way their feet are moving and, and just trying to adapt to that as much as you can. And I know I'm not a big spinner of the ball, but I feel like I'm really accurate in the way I move them around the crease and hopefully build up enough pressure to bring about a wicket or a bad shot and if it happens at the other end, that's perfect."

Australia's focus now shifts to the relatively unknown climes of Lucknow, which is about to make its debut as a World Cup venue on Thursday (October 12) as Pat Cummins & Co take on the big-hitting South Africans. And both as a senior player and an IPL regular, Maxwell is aware that a lot of his teammates will turn to him to gain some sort of insights into what they should be looking forward to at the Ekana Stadium.

"It's a bit of an unknown here, I think they've ripped up the whole ground and started again after the IPL. I think India also had a T20 here where they struggled to chase down 99 against the Kiwis, I'm pretty sure earlier in the year, and so I think with that in mind, it's probably just going to be a fresh start for the whole ground. I think it's going to be, turn up on the day and see how it looks. We've got training this afternoon and tomorrow as well so hopefully have a look and see what the ground's like and try make good judge on the wicket and see what it looks like," he said.

"I think, even looking back to the IPL when we did play here, the nets were very similar to what the centre was playing like and that was it. It was pretty hard work, both in the nets and then out in the middle. So, it was actually really good practice for us."

Speaking of Lucknow, Maxwell also confirmed that his good mate and local IPL marquee player, Marcus Stoinis, would be available for selection for the contest against South Africa.

"He's back available for selection. I think he was pretty much touch and go for that first game. And I think with the travel days and the timings of the training session, he probably only missed the first game by maybe a day. They were sort of trying to (do) 'has a big day and then has a day off' and I think his big day was the day before the game anyway, where I think it just pissed down with rain and so it ruined his training session. I think he'll be good to go," revealed Maxwell.

"I've been speaking to him a fair bit being close mates and he says he feels ready to go and he's excited and frustrated that he obviously couldn't be out there for the first game. He's a big energy for our team and someone who obviously is a matchwinner and someone you need in these types of tournaments."