Australia news: Glenn Maxwell to miss Pakistan tour, IPL start

Indian Premier League
Glenn Maxwell

Australia will have to do without Glenn Maxwell for the upcoming tour of Pakistan, the all-rounder confirmed on Tuesday.

Maxwell was a sure bet to be included in the Australia limited-overs side for the Pakistan series, but the 33-year-old is set to get married in late March, and will thus be unavailable.

This means he is also a major doubt for the start of the new Indian Premier League season, which is set to start on April 2.

Whilst Maxwell is one of Australia’s premier limited-overs players, he was also a leading candidate to be captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore this season, after Virat Kohli stepped down last year.

Whether the franchise will be willing to name a skipper who will not be available for the entirety of the campaign remains to be seen.

However, Maxwell did hint that he would be unavailable during this period in November last year when it first became public knowledge that he is set to get married.

Australia set for first Pakistan tour this century

The last time Australia toured Pakistan was in 1998 under Mark Taylor’s leadership.

This time around, they will play three Tests, three one-day internationals and a single T20 international.

The T20 is scheduled to take place on April 5, three days after the IPL opener.

This means several Australia regulars might miss the start of the event, which also includes David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins and Marcus Stoinis.

Speaking to said to Fox Cricket after Tuesday’s T20 against Sri Lanka, Maxwell said the clash of schedule was unavoidable since the tour dates and start of IPL constantly changed over the last few months.

“Originally when I organised the dates with CA there was a two-week gap where I could potentially have it,” Maxwell said.

“So when I sorted that out I was pretty happy that I wasn’t going to be missing in any series.

“And then I came to the [CA] contract meeting midway through last year and they said well this is [when] the Pakistan series [is on] and I thought well obviously that’s changed since the last conversation we had.

Australia currently lead the five-match series against Sri Lanka 3-0, with Maxwell playing a starring role on Tuesday.

Glenn Maxwell

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