Am far more equipped in longer version than in any other format: Glenn Maxwell

With your style of batting, there might be times when you fail as much as you succeed. Are you prepared to accept that?

Yeah, I think you expect that, especially with the kind of role I'm playing at the Kings XI Punjab, which is to go hard from the onset and try and set the pace. We've got a very deep batting line-up, so I have been given the freedom to go out there and play the way I want to play, which is effective for me and that is how the Kings XI want me to play.

Many experts see you as just an ODI or a T20 specialist. Do you have ambitions of playing Test cricket for Australia?

I don't care what people think about me. I know exactly where I want to be in cricket. People who have come and watched me play red-ball cricket understand that I'm a far more equipped player in the longer version than in any other format. So, people can say whatever they want to, but I don't really care.

The difference between the Maxwell of last year and Maxwell of this year in the IPL is that he is a world champion now. Do the extra expectations put you under pressure? What goals have you set for yourself this season?

Obviously, it's a different scenario coming in this year on the back of the World Cup victory. Yes, there are expectations which I've got to live up to. But I have to put that past me and understand that last year was a pretty incredible season. I don't like putting numbers with regards to what I want to achieve this year. I just want to try and make sure that I'm doing everything I can to help Kings XI Punjab win games in the IPL.

The season didn't start very well for you, especially after that comical dismissal in the Big Bash League in December. But things have gone up since that, haven't they?

I think it's been a great season for me personally so far. I don't think I've hit the ball as well as I have over the past two months throughout my whole career. It's been a really good change in form, and the mindset as well. I think the biggest thing that I've changed is my mindset with regards to how I go about my batting. I think I've started to enjoy my batting a lot more. That is what I did in the World Cup, and that is what was really pleasing for me. So I'm feeling really confident with my game right now and very happy with the way I've turned things around.

With one win and a loss, how do you analyse Kings' first two games this season?

In the first game (against Rajasthan Royals), we didn't ball well enough, and we know that. We should've chased down 163, so that loss was completely on the batting unit of the team. And then in the second game (against Mumbai Indians), I thought we batted really well to get to the score that we did, and then the bowling was as good as anything I've seen in the first 14 overs of a T20 game. And, as is the case with T20s, when you don't have anything to lose, as Mumbai didn't at that stage, you have to try and hit every ball for a four or six. So, for us to get them to that stage was a great effort. I don't think we should think about how the game was won only by 18 runs, I think we should think about the dominance that we had to get to that stage where they needed 100-odd runs in five overs. So overall, it was a great effort by our boys.