Shreyas Iyer gives ‘struggling’ Glenn Maxwell another lifeline, Azmatullah Omarzai returns vs KKR

Maxwell has scored just 41 runs in the 6 matches he's played, and his strike rate is just 100. However, he has taken 4 wickets.

The Punjab Kings (PBKS) have decided to give Glenn Maxwell another chance. The all-rounder from Australia hasn’t done enough to be worthy of returning to the side, but it seems like Shreyas Iyer has made a tactical decision to drop Marcus Stoinis at the Eden Gardens against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Maxwell gets another chance

It seems like PBKS expect the pitch to spin more than what KKR do. Hence, they have brought Maxwell, who bowls off-spin and has struck for them in 4 of the 6 matches he’s played. The issue has been his disastrous batting form. Maxwell has just one double-digit score to his name.

One may excuse his average a bit, although 8.20 is way too low. But his strike rate of 100 is a much bigger issue. His destructiveness is what separates him from other batters, and if Maxwell can’t bring that to the table, his value decreases multifold.

The other change is Azmatullah Omarzai returning in place of Xavier Bartlett. The Afghanistani all-rounder is known for his swing bowling and can do what Bartlett was doing. Moreover, he’s a proper batter as well. We still don’t know what his batting position will be, but if he can deliver a couple of good overs in the powerplay, Omarzai has done his job.

PBKS Playing XI vs KKR

Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Subs: Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Suryansh Shedge, Praveen Dubey