IPL 2024: Glenn Maxwell takes indefinite break from RCB with poor form

Glenn Maxwell managed to score only 32 runs in six innings in the ongoing IPL 2024.

Ace Australian batter Glenn Maxwell has taken an indefinite break from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 where he plays for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise. RCB have lost six out of their seven matches and are at the bottom of the points table with just two points.

Their recent most decimation came from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who bettered their own highest-ever IPL team total of 277 and posted 287/3 in Bengaluru. This is also the second-best team total in all T20s, behind Nepal’s 314/3 against Mongolia.

RCB replied with 262 for 7, making it 549 for the match, the most for a T20. But it wasn’t enough to avoid a 25-run defeat for themselves. With 6 losses in 7 games, they need to win all the remaining 7 matches to have a chance for playoffs qualification.

“For me, it was a pretty easy decision,”- Glenn Maxwell on mental health break

Amidst all this, RCB received a huge blow as Glenn Maxwell elected to take a break from the IPL to refresh himself physically and mentally. He had requested RCB management to pick someone else for the SRH match.

Before Monday’s game, he had scored only 32 runs in six innings at an average of 5.33. There were speculations that he might have sat out because of a thumb injury but that was not the case.

“For me, it was a pretty easy decision. 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 a good time for me to give myself a bit of a mental and physical break, and get my body right. If I’m required to get in during the tournament, I can hopefully get back into anent mental and physical space where I can still hapact.

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 positively 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,” Maxwell said in the post-match presentation and was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Maxwell started IPL 2024 with a golden duck against CSK and has had two more ducks since then. His highest score has been a 19-ball 28 with the help of two dropped catches against KKR.

“I wanted to give myself not just the physical break but also the mental break to give myself the right to play professional cricket. 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,” he added.

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