Maxed out? Glenn Maxwell needs to 'wake up' before it's too late

Nearly a year ago, Glenn Maxwell took a mid-season break during a lean run for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), having scored just 32 runs in six innings at an average of 5.33. He need time to refresh and reboot.

Maxwell had entered IPL 2024 in red-hot form, with 552 runs at 42.46 and a 185.85 strike rate in his previous 17 T20s. He also had a strong BBL season - 325 runs in nine innings at a 186.78 strike rate.

A year on in IPL 2025, things are eerily similar. He started the season for Punjab Kings (PBKS) with a golden duck against Gujarat Titans when he tried to reverse-sweep R Sai Kishore in Ahmedabad.

Despite a strong lead-up, Maxwell averages just 8.20 after five innings in this IPL.

Maxwell's struggles have been worsened by spin - four of his five dismissals have come against it. It's a stark contrast to his early RCB days, when he built his reputation as a spin-hitter. In RCB's run to the playoffs in 2021, Maxwell averaged 52.8 and struck at nearly 155. Since last year, his average against spin has plummeted to 4.87.

"It's a hard one, to decipher how Maxwell operates, his run of consistency or otherwise," former RCB batting coach Sanjay Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo T20 Time Out. "Those three years at RCB, he had a couple of batters around him who took the attention away from him.

"There was Virat [Kohli], Faf du Plessis - he wasn't really the main guy the team looked up to for miracles. He was expected to do those impactful performances, and he was delivering quite well. Here in a new role [at PBKS], he's batting slightly lower down the order as well, for me they're still looking at him as a primary overseas batter, which wasn't the case with RCB."

Maxwell's spin woes appear India-specific, with a lower aggressive shot percentage than elsewhere. Since IPL 2024, he's fallen six times to spin off just 13 attacking shots - nearly a dismissal every two balls, something RCB would have taken note of when they face him on Friday.

They will have three spinners - Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, and Suyash Sharma - to use as match-ups against Maxwell. While Livingstone hasn't bowled to Maxwell in the IPL, Krunal has dismissed him three times, with Maxwell striking at just 120.

"For the first two-three games, we saw a different Maxwell, he was trying to take the bowling on from ball one," Bangar said. "In the last two innings, he was happy to spend some time in the middle. Till the time he got out to Varun [Chakravathy's] googly [in the previous game against KKR], he was giving himself time, played good cricketing shots.

"He played a back foot drive past point. If he'd started with this approach, the pressure wouldn't have been so much. Now it's this way or that. I don't think Punjab will be patient to stick with him if they were to drop a couple of games, by which time the season would be on the line."

So far, PBKS have backed Maxwell, benching Marcus Stoinis in their previous game to bring in Josh Inglis. Maxwell has contributed with the ball, taking four wickets at an economy of 8.46 in six innings, and often bowling in the powerplay. But how long a rope can PBKS give him because of his bowling?

Numbers between 2021 and 2023 - among his most formidable years in the IPL - make a case for moving him up to No. 4, where he scored 908 runs at a 157.36 strike rate. But that would mean demoting the in-form Nehal Wadhera.

Cheteshwar Pujara, Maxwell's team-mate at Punjab in 2014, called his approach "casual," attributing his poor form to over-attacking. "The way he bats hasn't changed much," Pujara said. "He hasn't changed the way he has approached the IPL. There have been times where he's been a little casual. He's the same what he was maybe eight-ten years ago. I'm a little critical, but there are times where as a player you need to wake up.

"You need to realise you're getting an opportunity to play and be part of a franchise where things are at stake. And there are times a player can get casual, they're not worried about what's happening. I'm sure he wants to perform but when you're not performing there's a fine line of being causal and just trying to pull up your socks and trying to perform. He has to find that balance, if there was any other player he would've been out of the XI, but because he's Maxwell he's getting that opportunity."

Maxwell now returns to a venue where he strikes at 171 across 18 IPL innings, including three fifties. The Chinnaswamy Stadium is also the scene of his unbeaten 113 off 55 balls for Australia in a T20I in 2019.

With his form under scrutiny, Friday night might just be Maxwell's chance to flip the script this season. Will PBKS give him that opportunity?