Glenn Maxwell to join Travis Head, Steve Smith for Washington Freedom in MLC 2024

Washington, DC [US], April 18 (ANI): Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has signed with Washington Freedom for the upcoming Major League Cricket season (MLC).

He clarified that his absence from Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s side in the Indian Premier League (IPL) was due to his form rather than needing a mental break.

Maxwell is the latest Australian player to sign with MLC, joining his teammates Travis Head and Steve Smith, as well as former IPL coach Ricky Ponting, at Washington Freedom.

The all-rounder said he was excited about the opportunity to play in the United States.

“It’s a tournament that I watched from afar last year and was extremely excited about hopefully playing this tournament one day and luckily enough the timings have aligned this year. I’ve been speaking to Ricky Ponting and a few other players a fair bit over the last little period and certainly extremely excited to get stuck in,” Maxwell said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“Having Travis and Steve there and Ricky, three guys who I’m extremely familiar with, I think that sort of probably tipped me over the edge. You sort of um and ah about that time of the year about where you’re going to be and whether you take the time off, whether you play the Hundred or what you might do and I think just having those couple of Aussies there and I think the opportunity to be a part of something really big in MLC and grow something is really exciting as well,” he added.

Maxwell spoke about his choice to be dropped from RCB’s line-up for the last IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Maxwell clarified that it had nothing to do with needing to take a long break from the event. He simply thought he was not in the best XI and wanted to avoid any difficult conversations with captain Faf du Plessis and coach Andy Flower by requesting to be omitted.

“I was pretty low on confidence. I had a good couple of net sessions and just went out to the ground and felt really tentative. I wasn’t able to really commit to my game plans and just felt like if I had kept playing and playing that role, I don’t think the results would change too much,” Maxwell said.

“So I just went to Faf and said, look, I think we need to try someone else in my position and had the same conversation with Andy Flower, the coach, and to me it was a bit of a no-brainer. I think it sort of saves the tough conversation they might have to have about dropping me,” he added.

“I felt really at peace with it. Obviously, I’m frustrated that I wasn’t able to get the results I would have liked but comfortable in the fact that I know I feel like I’ve made the right decision for the team and it’s certainly not like I’m taking an extended break away from the game,” Maxwell further stated.