'You want him to play freely'- Irfan Pathan on why RCB should refrain from giving Maxwell leadership role

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is being talked about as the next leader for the team. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan though reckons RCB might opt to play him purely as a player as the pressure of captaincy might be too much on him. The Australian all-rounder had a phenomenal season with the bat for RCB this year as he scored 513 runs at an incredible average of 42.57.

He came in with huge expectations as RCB management were looking at him as a middle-order enforcer. Maxwell played his role to perfection and helped the team reach the playoffs. He will likely be retained by the team ahead of the mega auctions. The 33-year-old has previous captaincy experience as he had led Punjab Kings in 2017 and also is the captain of Melbourne Stars in the BBL.

With AB de Villiers announcing retirement from IPL, Maxwell is the strongest candidate to lead RCB. Pathan though feels a free-flowing batter like Maxwell is better of as a player.

“I think someone from the auction. Because whatever the 4 players are in my head, Virat is obviously not going to captain he has announced that, Glenn Maxwell is there, but you do not want to give him the captaincy because he is kind of a free-flowing cricketer and you do not want to give him that kind of responsibility. You want him to play freely,” Irfan Pathan said on Star Sports.

Earlier, the BCCI had given eight IPL teams a deadline of November 30 to submit the list of players they wish to retain. It has allowed teams to retain up to four players. RCB are likely to retain Virat Kohli and Maxwell. The other two possible candidates are Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal.