IPL auction 2020: Predicting the top 5 buys

#2 Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, famously referred to as the Big Show owing to his extravagant big-hitting ability, earned plaudits for speaking up about his mental health issues last month. Refreshed, he goes into the auction at a base price of Rs 2 crore.

Maxwell may have been dropped from the ODI team for Australia’s tour of India, but that should not affect his popularity at the IPL auction. While he has struggled for form in ODIs over the last 12 months, he has been superb in the T20Is.

Maxwell's last three scores in T20Is make for stunning reading. He first smashed 56 from 43 and 113 not from 55 against India. He followed that up with a brutal 62 from 28 against Sri Lanka at Adelaide.

In 251 T20s, the Big Show has 5,589 runs to his game at a strike rate of 154.94. He has also claimed 85 scalps at a strike rate of 24.5.

In the IPL, Maxwell's best performance came in the 2014 edition when he amassed 552 runs for Kings XI Punjab at a strike rate of 187.75. He was the third highest run scorer in the season. Punjab, in fact, topped the league stage due to Maxwell's exploits, and ended up losing a high-scoring final to Kolkata Knight Riders.

Maxwell's best of 95 from 43 came against Chennai Super Kings in their opening encounter of the season, and again (95 from 43) against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He went on to slam 89 off 45 against Rajasthan Royals and 90 from 38 again versus CSK. It was Maxwell's year at the IPL as he won the player of the series award too.