Maxwell lauds RCB for honest breakdown of his non-retention in IPL 2025

Dashing Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell has appreciated Royal Challengers Benaglurus effort to reach out to him and explain the reasons behind not retaining him ahead of this months IPL 2025 mega auction terming his exit from the franchise as a beautiful oneRCB has retained only three Indian players Virat Kohli Yash Dayal and Rajat PatidarMaxwell joined RCB in 2021 and played a key role in the middleorder in the past four seasons out of which the Benagaluru side made it to three playoffsI got a phone call from Mo Bobat and Andy Flower I sat there on a zoom call where they explained the decision not to be retained It was actually really beautiful except may be if that could be possible We ended up talking about the game for about halfanhour talking about their strategy and what they are looking to do going forward Maxwell said on ESPNcricinfos Around the Wicket showI completely understand the direction they are heading They need 3 Indians to build that core and hopefully their overseas players can complement those locals I was really happy with that If every team did that I think probably will make relationships more smoother added the Australian who is RCBs fifthhighest run getter with 1266 runs from 52 matchesAlso ReadPizza to pace Thomas Draca set to bring Italian flair to the IPL sceneMaxwell however still harbours hopes of being picked by RCB in the mega auction slated to take place in Jeddah Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25I wont say my RCB innings is over but I would certainly like to get back there It was a great franchise and I really enjoyed my time there RCBs head coach Andy Flower and Director of Cricket Mo Bobat also took RCBs Instagram handle to explain about the franchises decision not to retain big names like Maxwell former skipper Faf du Plessis and India pacer Mohammed SirajMaxi Maxwell has been an integral part of RCB He is a sensationally exciting player He is known for the maverick type tag and thats how he plays and sometimes thats how he lives Flower saidBobat was more detailed saying He Siraj has played for RCB in the past and not somebody we have retained at this junction Again we have kept our options open in particular with our desire to retain a strong Indian core to use our finances in that way and keep our options in terms of our overseas playersThere are a number of overseas players we have not retained but we will keep an eye on them going into the auction Both Flower and Bobat said the decision not to retain Du Plessis and Siraj was a tough a very difficult oneOne of the people affected by these retentions is someone I admire greatly Faf du Plessis I have known Faf for a number of years I have worked with him at different franchises it was really a tough season He is calm strong with a good sense of humour He is a guy we spent a lot of time discussing Flower saidThis is the start of a new cycle with the auctions we are leaving our options open on the leadership front Bobat termed the decision to let go Du Plessis as a tricky oneThe decision to not retain Faf was a tricky one because I have great admiration for him as a bloke as a cricketer as a leader and as a captain We cant underestimate how bigger role he has played for us in the last few years and we are going to be missing him That was a tough decision for usObviously the way these retentions are set up it is difficult to get everything you want I think he will admit that he is in the latter part of his career now and obviously Andy and I have to really think strongly around RCBs leadership moving forward Both Flower and Bobat said the decision not to retain Siraj was completely a tactical thinkingI am sure one of the surprises around our retention is that we havent retained Mohammed Siraj Siraj is a successful international cricketer of great repute He also has been with RCB for last eight seasons The skills in the fast bowling department we have already identified and retained they think which we want is the leftarm angle and T20 skills that Yash Dayal has Flower explainedBobat added Probably the decision which took most time is whether we retain Mohammed Siraj or not because he has got that real fire which is infectious for the rest of the team He goes on quite well with Virat and the combination of those two is very powerful It was a big decision for us to make not to retain SirajWith agency inputs