Glenn Maxwell’s IPL 2025 season likely over; here's why

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell’s IPL 2025 campaign appears to be cut short due to a fractured finger, leaving the Punjab Kings in a difficult spot. 

The injury was confirmed by his captain, Shreyas Iyer, ahead of their match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 30. 

Iyer revealed that the team is yet to decide on a replacement, casting doubt on Maxwell’s return for the remainder of the season.

"It’s very unfortunate that he’s got a fractured finger," Shreyas said at the toss. 

"To be honest, we haven’t decided about the replacements yet, but we are pretty strong in our team’s mindset and what we have outside of our playing XI. We’ve got a variety of players who can win matches, so we’re going to stick to that as much as possible," he added.

Maxwell’s injury, which occurred during a training session just before the Punjab Kings’ match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), has left the team reeling. 

His Australian teammate, Marcus Stoinis, confirmed that while Maxwell initially downplayed the injury, it worsened after scans revealed its severity.

"Unfortunately, Maxi’s broken his finger. He broke it just before the last game in training. He didn’t think it was too bad, but it ended up getting pretty bad. He had scans, and yeah, the results weren’t great. So, unfortunately for Maxi, I think it’s likely he’s out for the tournament," Stoinis said.

His return to Punjab Kings this season has not been as impactful as anticipated. After several successful years with other franchises, including Royal Challengers Bangalore, Maxwell has only managed 48 runs in seven matches this season. 

Despite this, Punjab Kings are still in contention for a playoff spot, sitting just outside the top four with five wins from nine games.

Head coach Ricky Ponting addressed the team’s search for a replacement, noting the challenge of finding suitable players due to the overlap with the Pakistan Super League (PSL). 

Ponting hinted that the franchise may bring in an Indian player as Maxwell’s replacement, with a decision expected before their 12th match. 

"We’ve been patient"We will be signing some replacements at some stage," Ponting said. 

"We’ve got until our 12th game, so we have a couple of games to go yet. With the squad we’ve got, we’re trying to find players within our squad anyway. We have most bases covered. We’ve got Azmatullah [Omarzai], Aaron Hardie who hasn’t played yet, Xavier Bartlett who didn’t play today. It’s conditions-based. But when we get to Dharamsala, he will come back into the reckoning, where the ball might swing and bounce a little bit more.".. We’re looking at Indian talent as well," he added.

"So, we’ve actually been a little bit patient. Maxi’s [injury] only been a couple of days, Lockie’s has been two or three weeks. And with the PSL happening at the same time, there’s not a lot of high-quality replacements out there, to be honest. So, we’ve just been patient."

"We’re having a look around at Indian talent as well and we’re looking at what roles we might be able to fill with some younger Indian players. We’ll actually take a couple of guys to Dharamsala with us. A couple of guys trained with us yesterday, and they’ll come with us to Dharamsala. We’ll have a closer look at them, and they might find themselves with a Punjab contract going forward. It has to be this week, before the 12th game, so stay tuned," he concluded.