Published on: Nov 3, 2026 11:03 am IST|Updated on: Nov 3, 2026 11:03 am IST
Just a day after Cricket Australia announced their white-ball squads for the home series against England, veteran all-rounder Glenn Maxwell announced his retirement from International cricket. The 38-year-old was omitted from the T20I squad for the home series against England owing to a long stretch of poor form. The selectors decided to drop his name from the T20I squad, and now the all-rounder has decided to hang up his boots from the only format he was active in during his international career.
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Having previously stepped away from One-Day Internationals (ODIs), Maxwell has now officially drawn the curtains on his entire international career, concluding a stellar journey that featured 149 ODIs, 130 T20Is, and two memorable ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup titles.
Maxwell made a name for himself as a pure entertainer. His fearless approach, which included hitting sixes at will to any bowler, inventing shots from nowhere, and dismantling bowling attacks at will, made him a nightmare for opposition captains. However, this approach also backfired on him a lot and often led to inconsistency in his game, which troubled him throughout his career.
Among his career highlights, none shines brighter than his legendary, unbeaten 201 off 128 balls against Afghanistan during the 2023 ODI World Cup in Mumbai. Battling severe cramps and physical exhaustion in his right leg, Maxwell single-handedly dragged Australia from a hopeless 91/7 to a miraculous victory, an innings widely regarded as the greatest ODI knock of all time. Although he got assistance from Afghan fielders who dropped sitters not once but thrice in the entire innings, it shouldn’t take anything away from Glenn and his imperious knock.
Reflecting on his journey, Maxwell expressed immense gratitude for the opportunities he received:
“I think back to right at the start I was picked ahead of my time and out of the blue. I was just proud just to be playing a couple of games for Australia. I thought I was just going to have that. Since then, I have been able to go through the up and downs of being dropped, being brought back, playing in a few World Cups and being a part of some great teams.”
Although Australian media and the Australian cricket fraternity heavily criticized him when he played in the Australian yellow, his journey through the Indian Premier League (IPL) offered a stark contrast. Despite being one of the most expensive and sought-after picks in auction history across multiple franchises—including Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Delhi Capitals—his IPL career was frequently plagued by inconsistency.
Barring the 2014 IPL season, when he represented Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and scored his highest tally of runs in an IPL season, 552 runs across 16 innings, ob nr ozvaeyz zb 187, Glenn was never a big threat in the IPL. His heroics in the 2014 season played a monumental role in helping Kings XI Punjab enter their first-ever IPL final.
Affectionately nicknamed “The Big Show,” critics and fans often pointed out how his international form rarely translated into sustained domestic success in India. Barring a few sensational individual seasons where he carried batting lineups single-handedly, Maxwell struggled to justify his hefty price tags year after year. For all his unmatched brilliance on the world stage, his inconsistencies in the cash-rich league left a lingering sense of unfulfilled potential, earning him a reputation among critics that the “Big Show” too often turned into a flop show during crucial IPL stretches.
After bidding adieu to international cricket, Glenn Maxwell is expected to actively feature in franchise league cricket across the globe. He has been playing franchise cricket for a long time now and should continue doing so. His fans who want to see him on a cricket field can tune into numerous franchise leagues played across the globe, including the Big Bash League (BBL), European T20 Premier League (ETPL), Major League Cricket (MLC), etc.