The run-fest in Bengaluru between RCB vs SRH game on Monday would have been ideal for someone like Glenn Maxwell. After all, the Australian hitter had conjured up one of the craziest knocks ever seen in cricket just over five months back in the World Cup 2023 against Afghanistan, but such has been his torrid season this IPL season that one of the most entertaining players in the IPL was left out of Match 29 between the two southern rivals and it turned out to be a game to remember.
A total of 549 runs were scored in the match – the highest aggregate in a T20 game with SRH setting, rather, broke their own record of the highest IPL total. They made 287/3, trumping their 277/3 against MI three weeks back. RCB, on the other hand, put up a spirited show setting the record for the highest total in T20 cricket in a chase, ending up with 262/7.
But, Maxwell missed all the action, and speaking to reporters after the epic game revealed that he asked the RCB management to drop him for this game to give himself a mental and physical break.
“After the first few games hadn’t gone to plan personally for me, it was a pretty easy decision,” he told reporters during the post-match presser. “I went to Faf and the coaches last game and said it was time to probably try someone else. I have been in this situation before, 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.”
This season Maxwell scores are 0, 3, 28, 0, 1 and 0 and his lack of runs in the middle order has been reflective of his team’s fortunes as well with RCB succumbing to their fifth straight loss this IPL season with this latest loss.
“With our results this year, it was quite an easy decision,” Maxwell said. “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.
But Maxwell did not rule out the possibility of a return and said if he is required, he will be available again.
