Former India player and two-time IPL title winner Gautam Gambhir has recently shared his views on Glenn Maxwell, where he said that Maxwell has had a rather disappointing time in the Indian Premier League and that’s the reason behind his appearance for so many franchises in the league. He further added that teams continue to invest “more and more” in him because he is considered an X-factor for Australia.
The big hitter has managed only 108 runs in 13 matches for Punjab Kings last year where he did not hit a single six in the entire tournament in the UAE. However, Glenn Maxwell soon paced up things and scored 167 runs at an average of 83.50 and a strike rate of 194.18 in the three-match ODI series against India.
However, after being released by Punjab Kings prior to the IPL 2021 mini-auction, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought him for a whopping Rs 14.25 crore as well. Glenn Maxwell has so far played 82 IPL matches and scored 1,505 runs in them as well. Meanwhile, RCB will play their first game against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 9.
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“Had Maxwell done really well in the IPL, he wouldn’t have played for so many franchises, to be honest. He’s played for so many franchises because he’s not been consistent at all. We can’t keep talking about ‘he hasn’t had the freedom’ for the previous franchises he’s played for… when he played for Delhi, he had a lot of freedom. Most of these franchises and coaches – because they think he’s an X-factor – they want to try and provide him with the best platform where he can succeed,” Gautam Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo.
“The most unfortunate thing is that despite getting that platform, he has not succeeded, apart from that one season in 2014 where he set the IPL on fire. Had he done that, I think none of the franchises would have released him. Look at what Andre Russell has done for KKR and the amount of time he’s spent at one franchise,” he further added.
“The only reason why a franchise releases you is because you haven’t performed. The more franchises you play for, it just shows you haven’t really been able to get settled in any of the franchises. Hopefully, he delivers this time around because every year, he keeps getting more and more money just because he does really well for Australia. So hopefully from RCB’s point of view, he can do really well. He’s probably got freedom more than any other player in the IPL. I feel he has been very disappointing throughout the IPL, but hopefully, this time around he can turn it,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.
