Maxwell Sacrifice IPL To Return To Australia Test Squad

It seems that the match-winning innings by Cheteshwar Pujara in Adelaide has made a deep impact. This has happened mainly on Aussie cricketer Glenn Maxwell.

Pujara scored 123 against all odds in the first innings. He backed that score with a brilliant 71 in the second innings and made up for everyone else’s failure.

Because of his tremendous batting, India notched a memorable win at Adelaide by 31 runs. With the win the visitors went 1-0 up in the four-match Test series. The fact becomes evident as Pujara has not played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2014.

Glenn Maxwell has also decided to sacrifice the lucrative T20 league this year. In place of that he wants to play a full season of county cricket in England. Maxwell is doing all these in order to back his pursuit for a spot in the Australian Test squad.

Since making his debut in 2013 against India, Maxwell has played just seven Tests so far. He also has a century in the longest format of the game. He last played a Test against Bangladesh in 2017, but failed to make the cut in the ongoing Test series against India.

The Victoria cricketer is mostly known for his abilities in limited-overs format. Now he wants to make a name for himself in the longest format as well. As a result the 30-year-old will join Joe Burns and James Faulkner in Lancashire.

He will play for the county side in all the three formats of the game. He will also hope that his sacrifice of not playing IPL bears good result.

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Thought of playing Tests still burns deep

In an interview to Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper on December 12, Maxwell said:

This is a pretty clear sign I still want to play Test cricket. To knock back a chance to play IPL was a big decision, and a tough decision. It’s not something you make lightly, but the thought of playing Test cricket again still burns deep.

Maxwell has played for a number of franchises in the IPL. His last team was Delhi Daredevils, who have recently changed their name to Delhi Capitals. He was however released after a poor show.

After playing 69 matches, Maxwell has scored 1,397 runs at an average of 23 and a strike rate of 161-plus. He also has six half centuries to his name.

Apart from being not selected against India, Maxwell was also not selected against Pakistan in the Test series in UAE. He didn’t feature despite the fact that a number of uncapped players were selected.