Glenn Maxwell joins his dream team after IPL auction bidding war

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Cricket365
February 18, 2021

Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell was the subject of an IPL Auction bidding war before being landed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Maxwell had expressed his desire to join the star-studded franchise which is home to the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, ahead of the auction but three franchises took an interest in the ‘Big Show’.

Glenn Maxwell’s dream comes true

Kolkata Knight Riders opened the bidding for the big-hitting Aussie but dropped out of the running as Chennai Super Kings and RCB tried to outdo each other.

CSK were willing to splash the bulk of their auction budget on Maxwell but were always going to lose out to RCB who could afford to drive the price beyond the means of the three-time champions.

RCB will pay ₹14,25,00,000 (Approximately £1,409,534) for Maxwell.

Earlier this week Maxwell had expressed interest in joining RCB and getting to play alongside De Villiers.

“That’ll be awesome. AB [is] one of my idols and one of the guys I’ve always tried to watch the way he goes about [things],” Maxwell said during a media interaction on Thursday from New Zealand, where he is part of the Australian squad for the upcoming T20I series. “It’ll be awesome to work with him, and he’s always been really helpful to me along the journey. Whenever I’ve caught up with him, he’s been brilliant. So to be able to work with him first hand will be pretty cool.”

RCB had built up their budget by releasing the likes of Chris Morris, Shivam Dube and Moeen Ali. Moeen was picked up by the Chennai Super Kings, Shivam Dube went to the Rajasthan Royals. In the case of Morris, RCB got in another back and forth to try and get the allrounder with Mumbai Indians, with the Royals also joining in on the bidding. The Punjab Kings further complicated the matter by jumping in on Morris. The Royals would fend them off at the the cost of 16.25 crore INR.

The auction day can be a stressful one for players and Maxwell said it was the usual practice that where possible the Australians would be together to commiserate and celebrate.

Maxwell added: “The Australian team is generally together for a one-day series somewhere in Australia and we get to watch it together and congratulate and commiserate each other depending on what they went for or if they didn’t go. So it’s stressful day for a lot of people, and I’ve been lucky to be on the good side of it a fair few times”

Glenn Maxwell