New Delhi: Ahead of the Indian Premier League’s 14th season, with Glenn Maxwell gearing up to represent RCB, former Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Goutam Gambhir has opined that all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has been disappointing throughout IPL. His inconsistency is the reason behind him playing for several IPL teams.
Gambhir who briefly captained him at Delhi Daredevils in 2018 has said that Maxwell had received more freedom than any other player in the IPL by his past teams, but wasn’t retained by them because he could not be consistent.
“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,” Gautam Gambhir was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo.
It will be Maxwell’s fourth IPL franchise, since he made his debut in the tournament in 2012. His journey started with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals). Later he was signed by Mumbai Indians in 2013. In 2014, Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) Maxwell had an amazing season where he scored massive 552 runs and helped the team make it to the final for the first time. But since then, Maxwell has failed to do well. Maxwell will play for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the forthcoming edition of PL.
“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. 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,” added the former KKR skipper.
Last year, Maxwell had a horrible outing in the cash-rich league as he failed to hit a single six throughout the season. He was subsequently released by the Punjab Kings, ahead of mini IPL auction he was bought by Virat Kohli’s RCB for a whopping sum of Rs 14.25 crores.
“The only reason why a franchise releases you is that 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.” Gambhir signed off.
