Glenn Maxwell was one of the three players (other being Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj) who were retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League. The Aussie star made a strong comeback in the last season of the tournament, slamming six fifties for his 513 – the highest by an RCB player in 2021.
However, Maxwell had endured a very contrasting season in 2020 when he was part of Punjab Kings (then named Kings XI Punjab). Maxwell, who largely batted at middle and lower-middle order for the side, scored only 108 runs in 13 appearances – without hitting a six in the entire tournament.
The Australian all-rounder has now opened up on the disappointing season during the RCB Podcast.
“Last year (2020) was a nightmare. It can be hard work, T20, if you're a middle-order player. You're not getting a lot of balls in the middle, you are not getting consistency. KL and Mayank were making truckloads of runs. Nicky Pooran was smacking as well. So a lot of times, I ended up facing less than an over or two. It's not a lot to get momentum and it was really hard to rediscover at any stage in the tournament,” said Maxwell.
“I was going to every game and it felt like I hadn't batted for six months. Even though I was training everyday. It was probably down to so many top orders playing and then we brought Gayle in, and I was pushed another spot down the order. So I had even less balls to play. It was tougher. And I was like, 'You might as well not play me', because I'm not like Andre Russell who can come out and hit the first ball for six. I need time."
{{/usCountry}}“I was going to every game and it felt like I hadn't batted for six months. Even though I was training everyday. It was probably down to so many top orders playing and then we brought Gayle in, and I was pushed another spot down the order. So I had even less balls to play. It was tougher. And I was like, 'You might as well not play me', because I'm not like Andre Russell who can come out and hit the first ball for six. I need time."
{{/usCountry}}Maxwell further said that Punjab stuck with him because he was bowling well. “To their credit, they stuck with me because I was bowling well. I was fielding and doing a lot of work with the captain. Batting-wise, if you don't get the rhythm, it's really hard to discover,” said the Australian.