How Punjab can solve the curious case of Glenn Maxwell and salvage their season

It wouldn’t have been outlandish six years ago to have imagined that in 2020, there would be multiple round-table discussions about Glenn Maxwell being the biggest and greatest match-winner in IPL history; that’s how good he was. Or at least he seemed. Yet, six years on, here we are. The only two terms that Maxwell is associated with are ‘overhyped’ and ‘overrated’ and the only discussions we’re having is who Maxwell should make way for. His downfall in the IPL, over the course of six years, has been drastic, dramatic and painful.

There is no way it should have been possible, and yet, it happened. The million-dollar question now is: Is Maxwell’s IPL career, or at least his IPL 2020 season, salvageable? A straightforward ‘no’, one imagines, would be the most common answer, but there might be the last throw of the dice available for the Kings to try and resurrect the Maxi of 2014 and, in turn, get their season back on track.

For Maxwell, at least in T20 cricket, has been a victim of his own success. His exploits have created an image that he is a “boom boom whack whack” batsman who can slay opponents right from ball one but what has, in fact, yielded him success is time. Maxwell’s best knocks - in white-ball cricket in general, more so in T20s - have come when he’s had time at his disposal. In each of his 3 T20I tons, the right-hander was in as early as the powerplay - he opened in the Sri Lanka game where he scored 145* - and the breathing space at hand allowed him to size up the opposition before slicing through them gradually.  Unfortunately, he has not had that luxury this season, or in the preceding five seasons of the IPL, where he’s been expected to explode from the moment he walks in.

Consider this: In his IPL career, Maxwell at No.3 has averaged 33 across 13 innings and has struck at 194. In fact, in ‘that’ 2014 season, Maxwell’s onslaught in the first half of the tournament came as a No.3 batsman and that year, he averaged 47 across 7 innings he batted at No.3. Yet, since IPL 2014, in four and a half seasons, the right-hander has been deployed at No.3 just six times and has predominantly been used as a No.5 and No.6 batsman. The integration of Mandeep Singh back into the side suggests that Punjab might be in no mood to hand Maxwell a promotion anytime soon, but there is overwhelming evidence for them to take the punt - not just to get the best out of him, but also to maximize the returns of the man who is currently batting ahead of him, Nicholas Pooran.

When it comes to the batting positions of Maxwell and Pooran, Punjab, unfortunately, this season, have got it all wrong. Pooran has been employed at No.3 and No.4 as the bridge between the top and middle-order and Maxwell has been employed at No.5 and No.6 as the finisher when clearly, it has to be the other way around. The need for the same is simple: as the numbers will tell us, while Maxwell is a more complete batsman than Pooran, the southpaw is a bigger destructive force with the bat, particularly at the death.

In 3 of Punjab’s first 5 games this season, Maxwell walked out to bat post the 13th over. In each of the three innings, he faced less than 10 balls (two not-outs) and in all three digs, the situation demanded him to go for broke right from the word go. In contrast, Pooran faced at least 10 more balls than Maxwell in two of the aforementioned innings and had the time to play himself in before cutting loose. Long story short, things did not quite pan out the way Punjab wanted it to.

In T20s (excluding T20Is) since the start of 2019, Maxwell, in the last 5 overs of a T20 game, has hit 25 sixes in 243 balls, which is a six every 9.72 balls. However, this number is dwarfed by that of Pooran, who has hit a six every 7.64 balls (39 sixes in 298 balls). In each of the three aforementioned games where he came in post the 13th over, Maxwell did not hit a single six.

In fact, the daylight between him and Pooran when it comes to quick starts at the death was underlined in the Sharjah game versus RR. There, both players pretty much walked in at the same time and faced just under 10 balls, but while Maxwell managed just 13 runs off his 9 deliveries (2 fours and 0 sixes), Pooran struck 25 off his 8 (1 four and 3 sixes). 

These figures make a case for KXIP to utilize Pooran - and not Maxwell - as the finisher, but there is more concrete evidence as to why the roles need to be reversed. For Maxwell is head and shoulders above Pooran when it comes to both, building an innings and making the most out of starts. Despite having come to bat before the 7th over in 3 of his 5 innings this season, Pooran did not play over 30 balls in either. The 27 balls he faced versus Mumbai in Abu Dhabi remains his longest knock and both his worst knocks - 1(3) vs Delhi and 17 (18) - came when he was exposed early to the spinners.

While there is good reason to pass all this as one-offs, particularly due to the manner in which he carved the Mumbai bowling apart, a pattern in Pooran’s T20 career suggests that he is not the greatest of batsmen in the world when it comes to constructing an innings.

What is also striking is that when Maxwell gets his eye in, he, unlike Pooran, ensures to make it count. 

In the 28 occasions where he’s faced over 30 balls, Maxwell has passed fifty 22 times (78.57%) and in those innings, he’s scored 73.5 runs per innings on average. Contrastingly, Pooran, whenever he’s faced over 30 balls, has passed fifty only 9 times (64%) and in those 9 knocks, he’s been dismissed under a score of 65 four times. 

In 21 non-international T20s last year, Maxwell, in overs 1-14,  had an impeccable dot-ball percentage of 27% and also maintained a startling strike rate of 140.7. Pooran, in comparison, in the same period, had a dot ball percentage of 45.6% and maintained an SR of only 129.9. When it comes to the West Indian, it is not a one-off either, as in 2018 and 2017, he had dot-ball percentages of 41.8 and 51.3 in overs 1-14. This year, he has a dot-ball percentage of 42.6% and has been striking at a pedestrian 119.4, prior to the death overs. 

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Rahul’s conservative approach will be a boon to the side in matches where he bats more than 90% of the innings, like the RCB encounter, but it will unintentionally end up hurting the side in other games, as was the case in both the CSK encounter and the RR game in Sharjah, where he ate up a lot of deliveries and perished without providing a final flourish. Sending in Maxwell at 3 could perhaps even free-up Rahul a bit, as he'll know that he has a batsman at the other end who, once he gets his eye in, is capable of tearing attacks down, irrespective of the surface and the quality of bowling. 

It is a shame for both Punjab and Maxwell that things haven’t quite worked out the way they thought it would. But the side have got their role-definitions all wrong. The numbers make it clear: 3 is where Maxwell belongs and by fitting him and Pooran in the right positions, not only will KXIP get the best out of both the individuals, but they will also open avenues within the batting unit that could help unlock untapped potential. As things stand, getting rid of Maxwell - and they have every right and reason to do that - will be the easier option, but it just might not be the wisest. Time will only tell if there’s a twist in the tale and if Maxwell’s IPL career will come full circle, or if his mysterious case will remain unsolved.