Australian Cricket Star’s Unexpected Request Prior to T20 World Cup
Seasoned Australian all-rounder, Glenn Maxwell, has recently disclosed that he requested to be benched for a recent Indian Premier League (IPL) match. The purpose of this was to allow himself a ‘mental and physical break’ in preparation for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in June.
Maxwell was a spectator during the 25-run defeat of his team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Post-match, the Australian star confirmed that he had requested the team management to exclude him from the lineup.
Maxwell, 35, has had a lacklustre start to the current IPL season, scoring only 32 runs in six innings. This slump in performance has contributed to RCB’s struggle, with only one victory in seven matches, placing them at the bottom of the IPL table.
Glenn Maxwell hit some towering sixes in Mumbai.
Maxwell, who is expected to play a significant role in Australia’s pursuit of T20 World Cup glory in the USA and Caribbean in June, stated that he requested to be dropped from the team to reset before the 20-over showcase.
“After the first few games hadn’t gone to plan personally for me, it was a pretty easy decision,” Maxwell said.
“I went to (RCB captain Faf du Plessis) and the coaches last game and said it was time to probably try someone else.
“I have been in this situation before in the past, where you can keep playing and dig yourself into a hole. Now is actually the best time to give myself a mental and physical break. With our results this year, it was quite an easy decision. We haven’t been playing as well as we would have liked as a team, and the results show that.
“My personal results have reflected the results we have had. Pretty big deficiency straight after the Powerplay and the middle overs, which have been an area of strength of mine the last couple of seasons. I felt like I wasn’t contributing in a positive way and it felt like, with the position we find ourselves at the table, to give someone else the opportunity to try their wares and hopefully, someone can make the spot their own.”
Batting highlights as Glenn Maxwell smashed a century for Australia against Netherlands at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023
Maxwell entered the IPL in great form, having played a key role in securing Australia’s memorable ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup title last year and scoring T20I centuries against India and West Indies on either side of the new year.
However, Maxwell’s performance at RCB has been challenging, with his 28-run innings against Kolkata Knight Riders last month being his only double-figure score.
“I probably just haven’t got away, it’s as simple as that,” Maxwell admitted.
“In the first few games, I felt like I made reasonably good decisions but was still finding ways to get out.
“It can happen in T20 cricket and when it can snowball like that and you feel like you’re not getting the runs, you can start to go searching and try too hard and forget about the basics of the game.
“Even if you look at the first game, I ran one off the middle of the bat to the keeper by picking up the length really well.
“I saw a scoring opportunity and I opened the face (of the bat) a little bit too much, and when you’re going really well, that goes just wide of the gloves, you get a boundary and you’re four off one and all of a sudden you’re away for the tournament.
“T20 cricket can be like that sometimes, it’s a pretty fickle game.”