Virat Kohli is “stress free” nowadays after relinquishing captaincy and that’s a dangerous sign for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)’s opponents in the IPL, believes Glenn Maxwell.

Kohli stepped down as RCB captain in the later stages of last year’s IPL before giving up India’s T20I and Test captaincy.

“Virat knows he has handed the captaincy over, which I think is potentially a big burden for him. It might have been something that has been weighing him down for a while. And now that he has been able to release it, he’s stress free and that might be dangerous news for opposition teams,” Maxwell, who’s set to bat at No.4 for RCB this season, told the franchise’s podcast.

According to Maxwell, Kohli seems a little bit more relaxed at present as he does not have to deal with any kind of “external pressure” that captaincy brings along with.

“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,” the Australian dasher, who had made some important contributions in the middle order for RCB last year, said.

Maxwell is also loving the cricketing conversations he’s having with Kohli: “This year, he has been really measured with his emotions and with his decision-making. He has really surprised me with how close we’ve both gotten to each other as well this year.”