Glenn Maxwell who played well in the UAE leg in IPL 2014, has failed to perform up to expectations in IPL 2020 and his side Kings XI Punjab is languishing at bottom of the table with 1 win and as many as 5 losses despite KL Rahul, their skipper being leading run-scorer.
KL Rahul has 313 runs but failed in the last 2 matches while Glenn Maxwell, the Australian all-rounder has scored only 48 runs despite playing all 6 matches. His average is 12 and the highest is a dismal 13 not out. He has also taken only 1 wicket but conceded 65 runs.
KL Rahul
KL Rahul Was Uncomfortable In Last Two Games-Pragyan Ojha
KXIP have earned only 2 points when they defeated RCB by 97 runs but has found the going tough since then. Their opening game was closely fought with Mayank Agarwal scoring 89 but Delhi Capitals won in Super Over.
“Last game, and this game also we saw that KL Rahul was not comfortable, the way he was batting. Previously we have seen he just went out, he batted the way he wanted to, pure magic. But the last two games, I don’t know he was not there,” Ojha told Sports Today.
Pragyan Ojha
“I think he was just trying to play because he knew that the middle order is not doing well, that pressure and this game you know when you have over 200 runs to chase, any batsman would feel the pressure.”
“And Rahul knows that if he and Mayank don’t do well, they have a fragile middle order. Anil Kumble mentioned Chris Gayle, they wanted him to play but he was not well,” Ojha further said.
KL Rahul is the leading run-scorer while opener Mayank Agarwal is the third-highest run-scorer with 281 runs in 6 matches averaging 46.83. Apart from the two, the others have failed according to expectations. Pragyan Ojha has felt that KXIP have a fragile middle order.
A lot of expectation was on Glenn Maxwell who was coming after a successful England and Australia series. Glenn Maxwell had scored a match-winning century against England in the last and third ODI where he was Man of the Match for scoring 108. He was Man Of The Series as well.
Glenn Maxwell Will Walk Out When Chris Gayle Walks In-Pragyan Ojha
Nicholas Pooran has scored 196 runs but Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Krishnappa Gowtham, James Neesham, and Glenn Maxwell have failed to produce fireworks. KXIP have failed as a batting unit and bowlers apart from Mohammad Shami haven’t fared any better.
Chris Gayle
“The message was very clear that they were not happy with Maxwell. It’s a clear statement if Chris Gayle walks in, Maxwell walks out. KXIP have been unlucky but KL Rahul was not the ‘KL’ that we have seen so far,” Ojha concluded.
Chris Gayle who is aged 40 is 8th in the list of all-time run-scorers with 4484 runs in 125 matches averaging 41.13. He has registered the highest individual score ever in IPL history-175* and has scored the maximum number of centuries and hit the maximum number of sixes-326 which is more than 100 more than next placed AB De Villiers.
But despite his stature, KXIP team management hasn’t included him in XI. He should have played a match against SRH, but was down with stomach upset.
