Glenn Maxwell announces sudden retirement from ODIs

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has decided to retire from One Day Internationals with immediate effect in order to focus more on Australia’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, scheduled to take place in India and Sri Lanka early next year.

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With this decision turning out to be official, Maxwell is expected to prioritise his preparation for the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, the Big Bash League, alongside his other global commitments.  

Maxwell has represented Australia in 149 ODIs, and his best knock in this format came against Afghanistan at the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India, when he smacked an unbeaten 201-run knock to take his team over the line in an improbable win after coming in to bat at 91/7. Eventually, Australia went on to defeat India in the grand finale to lift the World Cup.

“I think back to right at the start I was picked ahead of my time and out of the blue. I was just proud just to be playing a couple of games for Australia. I thought I was just going to have that,” Maxwell said of his ODI career.

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“Since then, I have been able to go through the up and downs of being dropped, being brought back, playing in a few World Cups and being a part of some great teams,” he added.

“I felt like I was letting the team down a little bit with how body was reacting to the conditions. I had a good chat with (Chair of Selectors) George Bailey and I asked him what his thoughts were going forward,” he told the Final Word Podcast.

“We talked about the 2027 World Cup and I said to him ‘I don’t think I am going to make that, it’s time to start planning for people in my position to have a crack at it and make the position their own’. Hopefully they get enough of a lead-in to hang onto that role,” he stated.

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“I always said I wasn’t going to hand my position over if I felt like I was still good enough to play. I didn’t want to just hold on for a couple of series and almost play for selfish reasons. They are moving in such a clear direction so this give them the best look at what the line-up is leading into that next World Cup. I know how important that planning is,” he concluded.

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