BBL 2019-20: Here's why Glenn Maxwell kissed the black armband after picking up a wicket vs Strikers

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has endured pretty indifferent state-of-affairs in the past two-three months. Back in October, the swashbuckling right-handed batsman had withdrawn his name from the T20I series against Pakistan in order to work on his mental health issues. The all-rounder then proceeded to make a triumphant return to competitive cricket and is currently enthralling the folklore with his three-dimensional display in the ongoing Big Bash League.

But, the ‘Big Show’ was once again ravaged with a personal setback in the lead-up to the Melbourne Stars away fixture against Adelaide Strikers when one of his closest friends succumbed to premature death. A dejected Maxwell handed over the leadership reins to fellow teammate Peter Handscomb for Wednesday’s encounter and while he did play in the game, he couldn’t hold his tears back when he claimed the wicket of Philip Salt for a 14-ball 22. He was spotted kissing the black armband and pointing towards the sky for his mate.

“He points to the sky for his mate who was taken too soon. It’s a very emotional game for Glenn Maxwell and his team gets all around him.” commentator Jason Richardson said.

Glenn Maxwell’s team loses the game

Coming back to the match-up between Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars, it didn’t turn out to be the night of Maxwell or his table-toppers Stars as the home side notched up an 11-run-win to register their third successive win of the tournament. Earlier, Adelaide Strikers batted first and on the back of a 71-run-stand between Jonathan Wells [55 off 36 balls] and Matthew Short [23 off 15 balls] racked up 4-162 in 20 overs.

Chasing 163, the Stars lost early wickets and at one stage were reduced to 5-90 in 14.2 overs with the cream of their batting-unit blown away by the likes of Peter Siddle [4-33] and Wes Agar [2-30]. However, captain Peter Handscomb played a valiant knock of 65 from 39 balls, but it proved to be too little in the end, as the Strikers romped home by 11 runs.

“We saw in their (Adelaide) innings, they back-ended it really well and I thought we could potentially do the same. I was backing us in to get close, which we did, but we left our run a bit late,” Handscomb said after the game.