India veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara has urged Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Glenn Maxwell to wake up and perform if he wants to hold onto his spot in the XI in the ongoing IPL 2025. On the other hand, ex-India all-rounder Sanjay Bangar stated that the Punjab Kings might lose their patience sooner or later if the all-rounder continues his inconsistent form.

Maxwell is experiencing a living nightmare in the IPL. He hasn't even scored 100 runs in 16 IPL appearances across two seasons and two organizations. Maxwell requested a leave of absence from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team management after scoring only 32 runs in his first six matches last year.

Punjab Kings signed Maxwell for INR 4.2 crore in the super auction, following his successful BBL and Australia performances. However, luck has forsaken him, as Maxwell has only 41 runs in six matches at an average of 8.20. His battles with spin have never been so visible.

"The way he bats hasn't changed much. He hasn't changed the way he has approached the IPL. There have been times when he's been a little casual. He's the same as what he was maybe eight to ten years ago. I'm a little critical, but there are times when, as a player, you need to wake up," Pujara said on ESPNCricinfo T20 Time Out.

Out of favor India Test stalwart said it's time Maxwell pulls up his socks and begins performing because the day is coming when PBKS management's patience will run out.

"You need to realize you're getting an opportunity to play and be part of a franchise where things are at stake. And there are times a player can get casual; they're not worried about what's happening. I'm sure he wants to perform, but when you're not performing, there's a fine line between being casual and just trying to pull up your socks and trying to perform. He has to find that balance. If there was any other player, he would've been out of the XI, but because he's Maxwell, he's getting that opportunity," Pujara added.

Former RCB and PBKS coach Sanjay Bangar, who has seen Maxwell from close quarters, believes his flaws were less noticeable with RCB since the spotlight was on Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis.

"It's a hard one to decipher how Maxwell operates, his run of consistency or otherwise. Those three years at RCB, he had a couple of batters around him who took the attention away from him. There was Virat [Kohli] and Faf du Plessis—he wasn't really the main guy the team looked up to for miracles. He was expected to do those impactful performances, and he was delivering quite well. Here in a new role [at PBKS], he's batting slightly lower down the order as well. For me, they're still looking at him as a primary overseas batter, which wasn't the case with RCB,” Bangar stated.

The former India all-rounder highlighted that Maxwell has been slightly confused in the crease in this IPL.

“For the first two or three games, we saw a different Maxwell; he was trying to take the bowling on from ball one. In the last two innings, he was happy to spend some time in the middle. Till the time he got out to Varun [Chakravarthy’s] googly [in the previous game against KKR], he was giving himself time and playing good cricketing shots. He played a back-foot drive past point. If he'd started with this approach, the pressure wouldn't have been so much. Now it's this way or that. I don't think Punjab will be patient enough to stick with him if they were to drop a couple of games, by which time the season would be on the line,” Bangar signed off.

PBKS will next face Glenn Maxwell’s former IPL franchise, RCB, on Friday and will hope the Aussie all-rounder comes to the party.

(ESPNCricinfo inputs)