IPL 2020: ‘I’m flabbergasted that he retained his place,’ Graeme Swann shocked after Kings XI Punjab persist with Glenn Maxwell

Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann has said that he was left flabbergasted when he found Glenn Maxwell’s name in Kings XI Punjab Playing for their IPL 2020 match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Swann’s comments came well before Maxwell couldn’t manage to score 14 runs off Sunil Narine’s last over as KXIP slumped to a dramatic two-run defeat despite KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal’s century stand in a chase of 165 runs.

Also Read | IPL 2020 Full Coverage

“I’m flabbergasted that Maxwell has retained his place,” Swann said on Star Sports after KXIP captain KL Rahul informed at the toss that there was only change kin that side – Chris Jordan in place of Sheldon Cottrell.

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Including Saturday’s game, Maxwell has scored only 58 runs in seven matches in this IPL. “Maxwell’s been paid a lot of money and at the moment he’s not quite giving the returns. He’s a quality player, he scored runs for Australia in England, he’s just got to take more responsibility,” Swann added.

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Former India opener Virender Sehwag and former England batsman Kevin Pietersen too had questioned Maxwell’s position in the KXIP Playing XI. In the 18th over, with 22 needed, KKR turned the tables on KXIP. Nicholas Pooran was dismissed by Narine, who conceded just two. In the next over, two wickets in three balls really swung the balance in KKR’s favour.

The equation was brought down to 14 needed off the last over, and later, six of the final delivery to take the match to Super Over. But Maxwell could only hit boundary – which landed two inches short of the boundary ropes for KXIP to lose yet another close game.

In six IPL games, Maxwell has scored 1, 5, 13, 11, 11*, 7 and 10* which are pretty poor numbers for someone of calibre. On Sunday, in the final over, the Australia all-rounder switch hit Narine for a six in the final over, but couldn’t get the job done.

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