Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has been one of the underwhelming performers in the ongoing 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 so far in the UAE.
He was purchased by KXIP for a hefty price of INR 10.75 crores – the second most expensive buy at the 2019 auction but has been only a massive disappointment, scoring only 58 runs and taking only 1 scalp in the seven matches for the franchise in the ongoing IPL 2020 so far.
Maxwell’s poor form has significantly hurt the KXIP as the franchise ended up losing six out of seven games even despite their captain KL Rahul leading the run-scoring charts – which garnered a lot of criticism with many questioning Australian all-rounder’s spot in the team.
However, there is a case of his under-utilization as Maxwell has not got enough deliveries to face and had to get going for the big shots from the start of his innings and the cricketer has made it a valid reason behind his failure in the ongoing IPL 13 so far as he reacted to the criticism.
Maxwell told the Hindustan Times: “If you look at our batting order, three of the guys batting ahead of me are among the top-10 run-scorers in the tournament. It doesn’t leave a whole lot of runs for the guys batting below. I have been not out three times.”
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The 32-year-old further explained, “Probably it shows how little amount of balls I am getting at the end of the innings. I am still trying to do the best I can. I am still batting well. Lot of the time I am trying to get the player who has been batting longer on strike. Yeah, I haven’t got a whole lot of opportunities so far and people will look at the number of runs I have scored. With the limited opportunities I have got, I still feel I am hitting the ball really well.”
On the KXIP's chances in the tournament, Maxwell feels the team’s fortunes will turn around in the second half of IPL 2020 and hopes they would be able to take hold of those key moments and win the coming games in the T20 League.
The Australian star further added, “Things can turn around pretty quickly. Once we start taking those winning moments and start to turn them in our favor. It is easy for the teams to get on a run in T20 cricket. We have got all the firepower; it is ready to explode. Our bowling group is just starting to click as well. I expect to see a much-improved performance in the second half. Hopefully, we can take hold of those key moments and win games.”
He also said luck plays a big role in T20 cricket, adding: “A little bit of luck will help. If you look at the first game, we scored more runs than Delhi, the umpire wrongly called a short run (KXIP lost in the Super Over). We could have started with two wins in a row, and then we bowled one bad over against RR which ended up getting them back into the game. Unfortunately, little moments like that haven’t been taken. We’ve spoken at length about taking those key moments.”
Maxwell signed off by saying, “In T20, you make one mistake and it can sort of getting compounded. We feel we’ve played good cricket this year to win most of our games, we just haven’t been on the right side of luck in this tournament. In T20, luck can play a big part, and teams riding their luck and going well with it can get on a bit of a run.”
