Ricky Ponting makes an alarming statement about Glenn Maxwell's poor form in the IPL

The two-month extravaganza is towards its business end as we have just four games left in the season. IPL 11 has been one of the most closely fought editions as the difference between the top and bottom sides is very less. While few teams started poorly and caught up later, others lost the winning momentum midway and failed to recover from it. IPL is a long tournament and momentum plays a key role due to the dynamics of the tournament.

There are some players who have performed exceedingly well in the tournament while there have been a few who have done well below par. The likes of KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu and Rishabh Pant have impressed the fans with their exploding innings while Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa haven’t quite lived up to their expectations. Pant had a great season with the bat as he topped the orange cap charts after the league stages but his team failed to qualify for the playoffs.

No show by the Big show

The Delhi Daredevils had an IPL to forget as they were placed 8th in the points table. Their foreign players especially Glenn Maxwell have led them down on several occasions. Ricky Ponting, head coach of Delhi Daredevils blamed Glenn Maxwell’s poor form on Rishabh Pant. Maxwell was purchased for 9 crores but turned out to be the biggest flop of the season. He managed only 169 runs from 12 innings.

“To be honest, the thing that hurt him most is how well Rishabh played. When we went to our auction table, we picked our group of players and I must admit before our first game, I had Glenn Maxwell pencilled in as our No. 4 batsman for the tournament. He missed the first game for personal reasons with Aaron Finch’s wedding, which meant that Rishabh batted at No. 4 in game one and played well.” Ponting was quoted as saying by timesofindia.com. Heading into the tournament, Maxwell was in good touch but failed to replicate it big time. The ‘big show’ displayed no-show at the IPL.

In comparison, Pant accumulated 684 runs which is the highest by a wicketkeeper in an IPL season. “He has been outstanding, it has been an outstanding season for him. He is obviously wearing the Orange Cap right now. It’s great recognition for the personal season that Rishabh’s had but across the board, we needed more even contributions from a few more of our top-order batsmen if we were going to be a threat to challenge for the title this year.” added Ponting. IPL 11 has proved that cricket is a team sport and individual contributions are not enough to win a match.

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