Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has backed Glenn Maxwell after the latter announced his decision to take a mental health break during the ongoing IPL season. Ponting said being one of the ‘top dogs’ of the star-studded Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team had weighed heavy on the fellow Australian.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Maxwell on Monday (Apr 15) decided to step away from the firing line as his performances remained underwhelming while RCB struggled in the tournament.
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“For someone like Glenn if you talk about, in that team (RCB), him being one of the ‘Big Dogs’ along with Virat, a lot of pressure comes on a couple of players playing in that team if they don’t perform, the results tend to not follow them. If you see what they have done in the tournament so far, pressure builds up on an individual player as well,” Ponting was quoted as saying by PTI.
Ponting said coaches and team management should have players’ health and well-being as the topmost priority when dealing with the serious rigors of professional cricket.
“I read that article today morning that Glenn wants to step aside, just have a few games off and try and refresh but every individual is different right, some guys would want to get going and push through that and get some runs on board and thus that will change their way of how they think about the game and some guys need to step back.”
Maxwell has scored just 32 runs in the six games he played which included three ducks and a highest score of 28. Speaking after RCB’s loss against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 15 where the latter posted a record-breaking total of 287, Maxwell announced his decision.
“I think now is actually a good time for me to give myself a bit of a mental and physical break, get my body right. If I’m required to get in during the tournament, I can hopefully get back into a really solid mental and physical space where I can still have an impact.”
Ponting backs Pant for WC squad
In the same interview, Ponting said wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant should be on the flight to the USA and West Indies for the upcoming T20 World Cup for India. Ponting
“Do I believe whether Rishabh should be there in the World Cup squad? Absolutely I do. He deserves to be in that WT20 squad by the end of the IPL, I think we have seen Rishabh play the way we have seen him play in the last six seasons of IPL and now back playing for India,” Ponting said.
Despite DC’s struggles on the field, Pant has been the lone bright spot, pulling off incredible cameos, months after returning to the cricketing arena.
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