Gautam Gambhir has pointed out Glenn Maxwell’s inconsistency throughout the Australian’s IPL career. Gambhir about Maxwell’s shift from one franchise to another points out his inconsistent form in the Indian cash-rich league. Maxwell is still a man in demand amongst the top IPL franchises despite failing in back-to-back IPL seasons.
IPL 2021: Gautam Gambhir questions Maxwell’s credibility
In the recently conducted mini-auction, two heavyweights of IPL- RCB and CSK- went on a bidding war for Maxwell. RCB finally managed to clinch the ‘Big Show’ of world cricket for a whopping amount of 14.35 crore. The money spent by RCB clearly states that the 32-year-old all-rounder is still a trusted name in the T20I format.
Interestingly, former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir feels the opposite. Gambhir questioned Maxwell’s calibre as he pointed out Maxwell’s history with different IPL teams. RCB will be Maxwell’s fourth IPL franchise. The Australian started his IPL career with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2012. He scored only 6 runs in 2 games. He, then, joined Mumbai Indian in 2013 where he managed to score on 36 runs in 3 games before he was released.
Maxwell was signed by Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2014, where Maxwell played his best knocks. He amassed a total of 552 runs which helped Kings XI Punjab reach the finals of 2014 IPL. He, however, failed to carry his form in the following seasons and was later released by the Punjab franchise in 2017. In 2018, he was re-signed by Delhi just to release him after one season. In 2020, Punjab decided to give Maxwell another try but it backfired on them miserably.
“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 told ESPNcricinfo.
“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.
