CT 2017: Glenn Maxwell ruled out of second Warm-up game against Pakistan

Team Australia has received a major jolt ahead of their second warm-up fixture against Pakistan. Their star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has been ruled out of the match due to a bruised knee cap. Maxwell had suffered the injury during the first warm-up match against Sri Lanka a couple of days ago. The management decided to rest Maxwell in order to give him enough time to recover before the Aussies head into the tournament proper. Maxwell was earlier hit on the neck during the practice sessions as well.

Australia will take on New Zealand in their first match of the Champions Trophy 2017 on Friday. Glenn Maxwell is expected to be fit for the match but needs his due time to get back to fitness. It is worth noting that Maxwell has, in essence, lost his opportunity to warm-up before the main tournament. In the first warm-up match that he played against Sri Lanka, he had secured a golden duck.

Hence, Glenn Maxwell will head into the tournament without having any serious crack at the oppositions in the warm-up fixtures. Having said that, it is worth noting that Maxwell is not short on match practice. He headed to England riding on decent performances in the season 10 of the Indian Premier League. Playing for the Kings XI Punjab, he had mustered 310 runs with a strike rate close to 175.

Return of big names

The second warm-up fixture between Australia and Pakistan will see the return of some big names though. The likes of Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, and John Hastings are all expected to take part in the match. These three players had not participated in the previous warm-up fixture against Sri Lanka. While Starc and Hastings will be staging a comeback after an injury layoff, Steve Smith will be fresh from his stint in the IPL. He performed heavily in the T20 league and would want to replicate the heroics here in CT 2017.

Talking about the warm-up results, both Pakistan and Australia had won their previous matches. Australia beat Sri Lanka by 2 wickets and Pakistan had beaten Bangladesh by the same margin.