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Glenn Maxwell asked that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru management select a different player for the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and he decided to take a sabbatical from the IPL to rejuvenate both physically and emotionally.
In the IPL 2024, Maxwell has had difficulty scoring runs. He had only managed to score 32 runs at an average of 5.33 in six innings before to Monday’s game. Although there were rumours that he might have missed the game due to a thumb injury, that proved untrue.
“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.”
By the time of IPL 2024, Maxwell was at his best. Since the beginning of November, he has amassed 552 runs at a 42.46 average and an 185.85 strike rate in 17 T20s. He also scored two hundreds at this time.
However, he gave the Chennai Super Kings the first-ball duck to begin the IPL. He has since had two more ducks and has only once survived more than five balls, that being against the Kolkata Knight Riders, when he managed a 19-ball 28 thanks to two mishandled catches.
Maxwell had a similar IPL season in 2020 as well. Playing for Kings XI Punjab then, he managed only 108 runs in 11 innings, at an average of 15.42 and a strike rate of 101.88. He did not hit a single six that year.