IPL 2022: That Was Obviously A Hard Time: Glenn Maxwell On His Deplorable Season With Punjab Kings In IPL 2020

Australia’s swashbuckling batter Glenn Maxwell said it was tough for him after enduring a dismal performance in IPL 2020 for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings).

Although Maxwell started his IPL journey with Delhi Daredevils in 2012 and later moved to Mumbai Indians next year, he received the limelight when he played for the Punjab outfit in IPL 2014 where he scored 552 runs from 16 innings at an impressive strike rate of 187.75.

I was really proud of the way I played that year: Glenn Maxwell on IPL 2017

Maxwell led Punjab in IPL 2017- scored 310 runs and claimed seven wickets- before he was released by the franchise and thereafter moved to Delhi Daredevils ahead of the mega auction in 2018. The Australian all-rounder said that he was delighted with his performance in the 2017 season as the captain of Punjab.

“I probably had five years at Punjab… and two years were very good. I was MVP of the league in the first year and was a captain in the second. I performed solidly… scored over 300 runs and picked about 10 wickets as well. I felt that was actually my better year despite the fact that I didn’t get as many runs. But when I made those runs, we won the games,” Maxwell said on RCB Podcast.

“I think my highest score was 46-47 runs but I made those runs on 4-5 occasions… I was not out and finished the game as I was the captain and my role was to finish games. I was really proud of the way I played that year and ended up getting released by Kings XI. I went to Delhi the following year and then had a year off,” he added.

I struggled to get momentum throughout the tournament: Glenn Maxwell on IPL 2020

Maxwell made his comeback to Kings XI Punjab as the franchise bought him for a whopping amount of INR 10.75 crores. However, the destructive batter couldn’t show an ounce of his power-hitting spree as he could just accumulate 108 runs in 13 IPL matches for the KL Rahul-led side in IPL 2020.

Maxwell admitted that he struggled to gain momentum in that dismal year of his franchise career.

“That was obviously a hard time… the previous two years went very good but I struggled to get momentum throughout the tournament. Last year was a bit of a nightmare. Nothing really went right. T20 cricket can be hard if you’re a middle-order player,” he asserted.

“You’re not getting to play a lot of balls in the middle. You’re not getting consistency. KL and Mayank were making truckloads of runs. Pooran was smacking as well… and a lot of times I ended up facing less than an over or two,” he added.

Maxwell made a massive transformation after he was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2021, the Australian batter ended as the highest run-scorer of the franchise last year with 513 runs from 15 innings. He was retained by the franchise along with star batter Virat Kohli and pace bowler Mohammed Siraj ahead of IPL 2022 auction.

RCB will play its first match of IPL 2022 against Punjab Kings on March 27 at Dr D.Y Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.

Also Read: It Might Be Dangerous News For Opposition Teams – Glenn Maxwell On Virat Kohli Relinquishing Captaincy That Was “Weighing Him Down