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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has taken an indefinite ‘mental and physical’ health break from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 due to his struggling form with the bat. Coming out in support of Maxwell, Delhi head coach Ricky Ponting emphasised that coaches and team management should prioritise the health and well-being of players above all else.
Ponting said the dip in batting form and being one of the 'big dogs' of RCB added a lot of pressure on Maxwell. He believes different players react differently to pressure and Maxwell was under pressure.
"For someone like Glenn if you talk about, in that team (RCB), him being one of the 'Big Dogs' along with Virat, a lot of pressure comes on a couple of players playing in that team if they don't perform, the results tend to not follow them. If you see what they have done in the tournament so far, pressure builds up on an individual player as well," Ponting told PTI.
"I read that article today morning that Glenn wants to step aside, just have a few games off and try and refresh but every individual is different right, some guys would want to get going and push through that and get some runs on board and thus that will change their way of how they think about the game and some guys need to step back."
"That's why you have to be really understanding as a coach and make sure that health, well-being and the welfare of the player is the first thing that you think of," Ponting added.
Amid a string of poor outings for RCB, Maxwell was not available for his team’s match against Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 16. Initially, it was suspected that he was sidelined due to a finger injury he suffered during the last match against Mumbai Indians (MI), but Maxwell acknowledged that he had dropped himself from the squad. Maxwell took a similar break from the game in 2019 and he made his return after a couple of months at the time.
"It was a pretty easy decision. I went to Faf and the coaches after the last game (vs Mumbai Indians) and said it was probably time we tried someone else (in his place)," Maxwell said in the post-match press conference.
Maxwell's performance in IPL 2024
In the ongoing season of IPL, Maxwell has only scored 32 runs at an average of 5.33 with a strike rate of 94 in his first six matches for RCB.
Notably, RCB will next face Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 21 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
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