Doubt David Warner at your own peril, that’s the message that Glenn Maxwell has given to the left-handed opener’s critics ahead of the T20 World Cup.

Warner has been terribly out of form and even suffered the ignominy of being dropped from the Sunrisers Hyderabad team, besides also losing captaincy, in the recently concluded IPL. The Australian scored 0 and 2 in the two games he played for the Sunrisers in the UAE-leg of the IPL. He was also out for a first-ball duck in Australia’s warm-up game against New Zealand on Monday.

But Warner’s Australia teammate Maxwell refuses to read too much into the former’s loss of form.

“If you ever doubt Davey, it’s an absolute no-no,” Maxwell was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Glenn Maxwell. File photo

“You know he’s going to turn it around. He’s a superstar of all three formats. He’s made so many runs. He’s going to go down as one of the greats of the game.”

Talking about Warner’s failure in the practice match, Maxwell said: “Unfortunately, he got Martin Guptill’d yesterday (Monday) with an absolute hanger. Gup seems to do that a lot against us.

“Those sorts of things happen when you’re searching for it. But you know when he gets out there, come game time, come the 23rd regardless of what happens in the next practice game, you know he’s going to hit the ground running. He’s going to be a big player for us,” Maxwell said.

Australia will open their T20 World Cup campaign against South Africa in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Maxwell himself has been in terrific form of late. The all-rounder played a pivotal role in the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s run till the play-offs of IPL 2021.

Maxwell believes that fellow all-rounder Mitchell Marsh will have a good outing in the T20 World Cup with the bat and the ball. “I think Mitchell Marsh is going to have a massive tournament. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone hit the ball better, ever.”