Maxwell takes a break to refresh after asking to be rested by RCB
Bengaluru, India - Glenn Maxwell has elected to take a break from the IPL to refresh himself physically and mentally after requesting Royal Challengers Bengaluru management pick someone else in his place for the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Maxwell has been struggling for runs in IPL 2024. Before Monday’s game, he had scored only 32 runs in six innings at an average of 5.33. There were speculations that he might have sat out because of a thumb injury but that was not the case.
“For me, personally, it was a pretty easy decision,” Maxwell said after RCB’S sixth defeat in seven matches. “I went to Faf [du Plessis] and the coaches after the last game and said I felt it was probably time we tried someone else. I have been in this situation in the past where you can keep playing and get yourself deeper into a hole. I think now is actually a good time for me to give myself a bit of a mental and physical break, get my body right. If I’m required to get in during the tournament, I can hopefully get back into a really solid mental and physical space where I can still have an impact.
“We have had a pretty big deficiency straight after the powerplay, which has been my area of strength over the last couple of seasons. I felt like I wasn’t contributing in a positive way 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.”
Coming into IPL 2024, Maxwell was in red-hot form. In 17 T20s since the start of November, he had 552 runs at an average of 42.46 and a strike rate of 185.85. During this period, he scored two hundreds as well.
But he started the IPL with a first-ball duck against Chennai Super Kings. Since then, he has had two more ducks and has lasted more than five balls only once - against Kolkata Knight Riders, when he made a 19-ball 28 with the help of two dropped catches.