Glenn Maxwell: The million dollar mystery

Glenn Maxwell with Delhi Daredevils.

“Going once, going twice, and sold to the Mumbai Indians”. This one sentence transformed Glen Maxwell from a kid who had just made his Test debut and was in and out of the Aussie squad into the IPL’s new million dollar man. His domestic form was promising (571 runs struck at 144 and 15 wickets at 7 runs an over), and with IPL teams looking to invest in untapped talent, you can understand why Nita Ambani chose to splurge on the 24-year-old.

Maxwell brings to the table an irresistible combination of hard hitting batsman, handy off-spinner and exceptional fielder. He belongs to the new generation of cricketers who have spent the beginning of their careers surrounded by the glamour of T20 and seems to have adopted it as his best format. His international form may not be exceptional, but the fact that he has been chosen for the Champions Trophy squad means that even the oh-so-critical Aussie selectors have faith in him to perform.

Maxwell would have been thrilled. Who wouldn’t like to be the new rich kid on the block? What he didn’t know was that he was also about to live everyone in the world’s dream – he was going to be paid a million dollars to do absolutely nothing.

Actually, I don’t think it’s fair to say he’s done nothing. It must take some effort to warm a bench for 10 games, deliver the odd bottle of water to the men on the field and bat and bowl badly in the nets to boost the morale of the players (this one may not be true, but I have to think of some out of the box reason for this happening). Still, I think a million dollars is a tad too much for that.

Mumbai are in the top four right now, but with the Sunrisers only behind on net run rate and the Kings and Knight Riders providing competition as well, they need to be wary. Perhaps the entry of Maxwell and his youthful energy and exuberance could give them that little bit extra that guarantees them the spot. Also, if they are planning to bring in Maxwell in the later stages, they must remember that he needs to get a few matches in to get some sort of momentum and form. Yes, you can only have four foreign players in a team, and it’s hard to contend with players like Ponting, Pollard, Malinga, Johnson and Dwayne Smith, but surely a million dollars warrants at least one chance, especially after Ponting dropped himself? Maybe Malinga could be given a game off, given that he hasn’t exactly been at his best this year. If Jacob Oram can be given a match, I’m pretty sure Maxwell can too. Maxwell may have himself said that he can’t be picked because of the performances of those in the team, but a small part of him must feel he deserves a spot.

In conclusion, I can only reiterate my confusion. If the team took the effort to send scouts to Australia where they found a player who they felt was worth a bidding battle with the Sunrisers and of course, a million dollars, it can’t be that outrageous an idea to actually give the poor guy (yes, I realize the irony of this statement) a game. I know Reliance Industries is a rich company, but there has to be a limit to flaunting wealth, and I’d say that a million dollars crosses the line by a bit.