IPL: Glenn Maxwell's road to redemption - Stats in last 5 seasons vs 2021 edition

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has made a strong comeback in the IPL since joining Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the 2021 edition. Before coming to RCB, Maxwell had an abysmal season at Punjab Kings, where due to his poor run with the bat he faced a lot of criticism and was eventually dropped from the starting XI. However, despite his mediocre performance in the competition over the years, Maxwell was purchased by RCB for big money ahead of the 2021 season. 

Maxwell in IPL 2021

Maxwell demonstrated his worth by finishing the 2021 league stage portion as RCB's leading run-scorer with 498 runs in 14 games at an impressive average of 45.27. Maxwell has six half-centuries in the ongoing edition of the lucrative competition, more than any other hitter in the top-10 run-scorers' list this season and equal to current Orange Cap holder KL Rahul. Maxwell's strike rate of 147.33 is his best since the 2017 edition when he had a strike rate of 173.18. Maxwell's previous highest number of half-centuries had come in the 2014 edition when he had surpassed the 50-run mark 4 times. Maxwell scored 2 half-centuries in 2016 but, failed to notch a single one in the following three seasons. 

Maxwell in the last 5 seasons

Since his incredible 2014 IPL season, when he made his debut for Punjab Kings, Maxwell has not scored more than 500 runs. In the 2014 edition, Maxwell recorded a total of 552 runs in 16 games. Maxwell then went on to have two straight seasons in which he failed to score more than 200 runs for his team. In 2015, he scored 145 runs in 11 games, and in 2016, he scored 179 runs in 11 games. In 2017, he bounced back, scoring 310 runs in 14 games for a 31.00 average. In the following two seasons, the destructive batter was inconsistent again, scoring 169 runs in 12 matches and 108 runs in 13 matches, respectively.

Talking about Maxwell's great form in IPL 2021, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reckoned that maybe the Australian batter was not so happy and comfortable at his previous franchise, which is why he was failing to do the job for them. Gavaskar said the pressure was entirely on Maxwell to perform when he was at Punjab Kings, however that pressure has now been dissolved with the presence of other big names in his current franchise, including the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.  

Image: RCB/Twitter