Glenn Maxwell Takes Mental and Physical Break from IPL Due to Poor Form

Glenn Maxwell, an all-rounder for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has chosen to take an indefinite "mental and physical" hiatus from the Indian Premier League. He attributes his decision to his terrible batting record.

Maxwell's finger injury from the previous game against the Mumbai Indians was originally the reason for his absence from the RCB's encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday.

However, he later acknowledged that he had left the team.

"It was not too difficult to decide. During the news conference following the game against the Mumbai Indians, Maxwell stated, "I went to Faf and the coaches and said it was probably time we tried someone else (in his place)."

It's actually a fantastic idea for me to take a little mental and physical break and take care of my body. He continued, "Hopefully, I can get back into a stable mental and physical state where I can have a difference if I'm asked to get in during the tournament.

Maxwell has chosen to withdraw from competitive cricket twice in his career in order to regain his composure.

He had taken a similar hiatus in October 2019, claiming at the time that he felt destroyed both physically and mentally. A few months later, the 35-year-old returned.

Maxwell has featured in six matches so far in the 2017 IPL, but his performance with the bat has been quite lackluster, scoring only 32 runs at an average of 5.33 and a strike-rate of 94.

Of those 32 runs, 28 came from a single match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, greatly aided by two mishandled catches.

"I know this because I've been there before—you can keep playing and dig yourself even deeper into a hole. After the power play, which has been my area of strength for the past two seasons, we have had a significant deficit.

"I felt like I wasn't contributing with the bat, and with the results and the position we find ourselves on the table, I think it's a good time to give someone else an opportunity to show their wares, and hopefully, someone can make that spot their own," Maxwell stated with candor.

But the powerful Australian still wanted to come back and have an effect on the competition later on.

"This place has excellent management. Before this tournament, I don't think I've played cricket in a better six months.

"So, when things work out this way, it's annoying. However, he added, "There's no reason I can't finish the tournament well if I do get another opportunity if I can get my body and mind right."

Given his stellar performance leading up to the IPL, the abrupt decline in his form was unexpected. From November forward, Maxwell had amassed 552 runs at an average of 42 from 17 Twenty20 Internationals, with a remarkable strike-rate of 185.

However, the Victorian's fortunes took a turn for the worse as he opened the IPL against Chennai Super Kings with a first-ball duck.

"T20 cricket is a very erratic sport. I even ran one to the keeper off the middle of the bat in the first game. I noticed a scoring opportunity and picked up the length, but I opened my face a bit too much.

"You get a boundary when you are doing well and that reaches beyond the gloves of the wicketkeeper. You are away for the tournament and you are 4 off 1," he said.

Maxwell claimed that in this competition, luck was not on his side.

Most likely, I haven't managed to escape. I think I made quite decent judgments (for shot selection) in the first several games. However, I was figuring out how to leave.

"It can happen in T20 cricket and when it snowballs like that, you can go searching and try too hard and forget the basics of the game," he stated.

Maxwell, who played for the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2020, went through a similar dry spell. The Australian managed just 108 runs from 11 games in that season and did not smash a single six.

Maxwell did not, however, make any comparisons between the two seasons.

"At the time, I was bowling extremely well. In actuality, I was more of a spinner. We had the two top run scorers at the time, KL (Rahul) and Mayank (Agarwal).

Thus, hardly many balls remained in the game (for him). I couldn't get the rhythm of the match. I therefore told the Punjab management that we could replace me with an international bowler.

"But we didn't have an off-spinner, so, I sort of played as an overseas off-spinner who could bat a little bit," he said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.