Indian cricket legend Virender Sehwag slams $2.2m flop Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell is the flavour of the month after his stunning knocks for Australia — but a legend says they only expose a damning truth.

Glenn Maxwell has struggled in the IPL.

Indian legend Virender Sehwag has lined up Glenn Maxwell — again — accusing the Aussie cricket star of pocketing his pay cheque from the Indian Premier League (IPL) without caring how he performs.

Maxwell has started the summer in brilliant fashion, starring in the one-day international and T20 series against India. He blazed rapid-fire knocks of 45, 63 not out and 59 in the ODIs and bludgeoned 54 and took 1/20 in the final T20 match in Sydney on Tuesday night.

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But his recent heroics have prompted 104-Test veteran Sehwag to highlight the difference between Maxwell’s output in the green and gold compared to his efforts in the IPL for Kings XI Punjab, who signed him on a $2.2 million deal at last year’s auction.

“His attitude changes when he plays for Australia. When he goes to Australia, he knows that if he has two or three bad innings, he will be left out of the Australian team and it will be difficult to make a comeback,” Sehwag told Sony Sports.

“He doesn’t take pressure at all (in the IPL). He is there only for enjoyment.

“He will do everything in the match — encourage players, roam around, dance other than scoring runs. As soon as the match is over, if he is getting free (non-alcoholic) drinks, he will take that to his room or go to the room and have a lot of drinks.

“So, I never felt that he is that serious about the game. When he comes to the IPL, he is more serious about his golf than cricket.”

Maxwell struggled big time for Kings XI Punjab in this year’s edition of the most lucrative T20 tournament in the world. He scored just 108 runs in 13 matches at an average of 15.42, with a high score of 32.

The Victorian also failed to hit a six in the entire tournament, ending with the mediocre strike rate of 101.88.

His ordinary campaign comes after the right-hander sat out of the 2019 IPL auction when he was cut from the Delhi Daredevils following an ordinary 2018 campaign. That season he mustered just 169 runs from 12 games and averaged only 14.08.

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Maxwell has been unstoppable for Australia, but flopped in the IPL.

Sehwag’s comments come after a blistering attack last month, calling him a “cheerleader” who “proved costly for Punjab”.

“He has had a bad record of shirking work over the past few seasons,” Sehwag said at the end of the IPL. “But this season he went to new extremes — this is what you call a highly-paid vacation.”

Another former Indian star, Mohammad Kaif, also called out the discrepancy between Maxwell’s international performances compared to his IPL efforts.

“It is absolutely amazing. Everyone has the hope that he will fire in the IPL, that he will do well this year,” Kaif said this week.

“Probably he feels more pressure in the IPL because only four foreign players can play (in each team) and seven Indians. So the competition between foreign players is high.

“But once he comes back home, it has just been two-to-three weeks since the IPL in UAE, there is such a huge difference. He is able to play the reverse sweeps, switch hits, and is able to hit shots in whichever angle he wants.

“So, it is not a problem with the player’s skills but probably a problem with the mindset in the IPL.”

Maxwell played down Sehwag’s “cheerleader” criticism when asked about it in November.

“Viru is pretty outspoken with his dislike of me and that’s fine. He is allowed to say whatever he likes — he is in the media for such statements. That’s fine,” Maxwell said.

“I deal with that and move on and take it with a grain of salt with Sehwag.”

Sehwag wants to see more from Maxi.