Australian batter Glenn Maxwell lauded the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise for giving him a graceful exit ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction.
Maxwell was not among the retained players by the franchise on Thursday (October 31). The Bengaluru-based side went forward with only three players – Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal from the last season.
The 36-year-old is the fifth-highest run-scorer for RCB in the cash-rich league with 1,266 runs from 52 games. However, Maxwell had a dismal IPL 2024 campaign, where he could accumulate only 52 runs in nine innings and held an average of only 5.77. As a result, he was released by the franchise.
Recently, Glenn Maxwell revealed that he had a “beautiful” exit meeting in Zoom with RCB Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, and head coach Andy Flower. In an interaction on ESPN’s Around the Wicket, Maxwell said:
“I got a phone call from Mo Bobat and Andy Flower. I sat there on a zoom call, and they sort of explained to me the decision not to be retained. And, it was actually a really beautiful exit meeting, if that could be possible.
“We ended up talking about the game for about half an hour and talking about their strategy and what they were looking to get to do, going forward. So, I was really happy with that.”
Further, Maxwell hoped to return to the franchise in the next season, provided they bid for him in the mega-auction, scheduled to take place later this month.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say my RCB journey’s over, but, yeah, I’d certainly love to get back there. It was a great franchise to play for and really enjoyed my time there.”
AB de Villiers wants RCB to bid for spin twins from RR
Former RCB batter AB de Villiers took to his official YouTube channel to discuss players whom the franchise should target in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
As per him, RCB should bring back Yuzvendra Chahal, and thinks he should never have been released. The leg-spinner has bagged the most wickets (139) for the franchise, during his time from 2014-21. He then emerged as the best bowler for Rajasthan Royals (RR) with 66 scalps in the last three seasons. However, he was not retained by the franchise.
Further, de Villiers thinks RCB should focus on securing the services of players like Kagiso Rabada and Ravichandran Ashwin, who were released by the Punjab Kings and the Royals, respectively.
“I want the priority to be on a world-class spinner. Let’s get Yuzi Chahal back at RCB, where he belongs. He should never have left. Imagine we get the twin spins from RR at RCB. Guys who really know their games inside out. Kagiso Rabada, let’s get him at RCB. Please, Kagiso Rabada, Yuzi Chahal, then we can think about Ravi Ashwin. You get those three there.”
