Glenn Maxwell has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the Indian Premier League after a poor start to the tournament with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Maxwell asked RCB captain Faf du Plessis and the coaching staff to release him after he managed just 32 runs in his first six knocks in this tournament, 28 of them off a single hit.
RCB are on a five-match losing streak and sit last in the standings as the tournament nears the halfway point.
“After the first few games hadn’t gone as planned for me personally, it was a pretty easy decision,” Maxwell told reporters.
“I went to (du Plessis) and the coaches last game and told them it was probably time to try someone else. “I’ve been in this situation before in the past, where you can keep playing and dig yourself in a hole.
“Now is the best time to give myself a physical and mental break.
“My personal results have reflected the results we’ve had. I felt like I wasn’t contributing in a positive way and I felt like, with where we were at the table, we should give the opportunity to someone else.”
The drought comes less than two months before the T20 World Cup in North America.
Australia is planning to improve on a disappointing finish in the 2022 edition, when the hosts failed to advance to the knockout stage.
Prior to a middling Twenty 20 International series against New Zealand, Maxwell had enjoyed a stellar T20 summer.
He scored an unbeaten 55-ball 120 against the West Indies in January, his highest score in a T20I since September 2016, and also guided Australia to victory in the third T20I of the India series with 104 not out last November. .
But Maxwell’s IPL campaign began with a first-ball duck against Chennai Super Kings, followed by two more ducks and only one score above four runs.
“It’s been a pretty tough fight, given that my body is on the wrong side of 30. I think the physical and mental toll probably wore me down a little bit,” Maxwell said of her campaign so far.
Elsewhere, a brutal century from Travis Head returned Sunrisers Hyderabad to the Indian Premier League play-off places in another match for bowlers to forget.
Head’s first T20 hundred was the fourth-fastest in IPL history, off 39 balls. His 102 was the launching pad for Hyderabad to achieve 3-287, improving on their own IPL record of 3-277 set earlier this season.
However, they only won by 25 runs as RCB recovered from 6-181 in the 15th over to finish 7-262. The total of 549 runs was easily the highest in IPL history.
Head’s big ton included eight sixes and nine fours.
The Australian left-hander crushed the fast bowlers, particularly New Zealand’s Lockie Ferguson (2-52), who had a forgettable first game of the season when Bengaluru’s strategy of not using a specialist spinner backfired.
Head brought up his half-century off 20 balls and completed his century off the next 19 before finally holing out to Ferguson until mid-on.
“The course played wonderfully,” he said.
“We thought we had to get a license to go.”
Of his own hitting he added: “It’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but I’m pleased with how I hit the ball today.”
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AAP