Glenn Maxwell is frustrated at following the tournament of a lifetime at last year’s World Cup in India with a glum sequence of Indian Premier League innings that has compelled him to take an indefinite break from the tournament.
Scores of 0, 3, 28, 0, 1 and 0 helped lead Maxwell to the conclusion he needed time out of the side, with no certainty as to his return. He has withdrawn himself from availability, citing mental and physical fatigue.
Glenn Maxwell is taking a break from playing in the IPL.Credit: AP
“Unfortunately, runs just haven’t come the way they should have when you are in really good form,” Maxwell said. “I don’t think I’ve had a better six months in cricket leading into this tournament. So it’s frustrating when it ends up like this.
“I take a lot of pride in my performance, and I put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes to get my body right for every game. And it has been a pretty tough struggle, given my body is on the wrong side of 30. I think that physical and mental toll probably just wore me down a little bit.”
The runs were flowing for Maxwell’s compatriot Travis Head, however, who blasted a century off just 39 balls to lift Sunrisers Hyderabad to victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Maxwell and Head both have one eye on the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States in June, where they will be key components of Australia's quest to regain the title they won in the UAE in 2021.
And it was at the ODI World Cup in October and November where Maxwell put together arguably the most memorable performances of his life – not least an unbeaten double century against Afghanistan despite debilitating full-body cramps.
“After the first few games hadn’t gone to plan personally for me, it was a pretty easy decision,” Maxwell told reporters after the game, in which RCB also left out Cameron Green, leaving a huge portion of their salary cap on the bench.
“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 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.”
Maxwell said the team’s results made his decision an easy one.
“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,” he said.
“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.
“If I’m required again in the tournament and I can get back into a solid mental and physical space where I can have an impact still for RCB [I will be available again]... If I can get my body and my mind right, there’s no reason I can’t finish the tournament well if I do get another opportunity.”
Encouraged to go his hardest by captain Pat Cummins and coach Dan Vettori, Head spent just 13 overs at the crease while clattering eight sixes and nine fours at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
His innings, backed up by a percussive 67 from 31 balls by Heinrich Klaasen, vaulted Sunrisers to 3-287, a total beyond the reach of RCB despite an opening stand of 80 in little more than six overs by Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis.
Travis Head celebrates his century.Credit: AP
The Sunrisers’ total was the highest in IPL history, while the total match aggregate of 549 runs was the biggest in all T20 matches. Head’s century was the fourth fastest in competition history.
It might have been the ideal platform for Maxwell, but he had dropped out of the side as RCB struggle at the bottom of the IPL table.
For Head, who had his own fatigue concerns towards the end of the home summer, the return to India and the opening slot has helped provide a clear picture of what he's trying to do.
“[Our total] needs a three in front of it, does it now?” Head quipped when asked about how much higher Sunrisers could go. “It’s proper batting. We’ve wanted to be exciting the whole time, and we’ve wanted to take the game on, and Pat and then Dan have put pressure on the batting line-up to make sure we try and maximise the powerplay and then keep going.”
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