Two of Glenn Maxwell’s five T20I hundreds came against India, and he has retired from international cricket at 38
Maxwell had hoped for one last game against England at the MCG. Left out of the squad, he has quit international, first-class and List A cricket and will play on for the Melbourne Stars.
Nov 3, 2026
Glenn Maxwell has played his last game for Australia. The 38-year-old said on the Final Word podcast that he is retiring from international cricket, 17 months after he gave up ODIs, and that he is done with first-class and List A cricket as well. He will carry on in T20 franchise cricket, starting with the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.
Selection decided the timing. Australia named their squad for the home T20I series against England later this month, a series with a game at the MCG, and Maxwell was not in it. “I suppose [I had] a small hope that I might have been able to potentially get a send-off game at the MCG,” he said. “But I can completely understand the direction they’re going with this squad.”
He said there will be “a lot of change over the next 12 to 24 months with the Olympics coming up”, and that the selectors need to see young players under international pressure before Los Angeles 2028. So his last international match is the one nobody will remember: a T20 World Cup group game against Oman in Pallekele on 20 February, with Australia already on their way out. He bowled three overs for 13 runs and two wickets, and he did not bat.
Two of the five hundreds came against India
Maxwell leaves T20Is with 2,897 runs from 130 matches, a strike rate of 154.42 and five hundreds. Nobody in men’s T20Is has more. Rohit Sharma also has five, and Abhishek Sharma is one behind on four.
Indian fans saw two of those five up close. In Bengaluru in February 2019 he made 113 not out off 55 balls. The Guwahati one in November 2023 was better. India had made 222 for 3 behind Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 123 not out, Australia needed 21 off Prasidh Krishna’s final over, and Maxwell got them, finishing on 104 not out off 48 balls as the winning runs came off the last ball. In 24 T20Is against India he scored 576 runs at a strike rate of 151.18.
His best-known innings was played in India too, three years ago this Saturday. At the Wankhede on 7 November 2023, Afghanistan had Australia 91 for 7 chasing 292 in a World Cup game. Maxwell was cramping so badly he could barely run, so he mostly stopped trying and hit the ball over the rope instead. He finished on 201 not out off 128 balls and Australia won by three wickets, a result that sent them into the semi-finals. Less than two weeks earlier, in Delhi, he had reached a hundred in 40 balls against the Netherlands, still the fastest century in men’s World Cup history. Australia went on to win that tournament.
Seven Tests, 149 ODIs, 130 T20Is
Across the three formats that adds up to 339 Test runs with one hundred, 3,990 ODI runs at 33.81 with four hundreds, and 136 international wickets with his off-breaks. He won the 50-over World Cup in 2015 and 2023, and when Australia won their first T20 World Cup in Dubai in 2021, it was Maxwell who reversed Tim Southee for the winning runs.
The IPL already has its goodbye. Punjab Kings released him after the 2025 season, and he chose not to enter the 2026 auction, saying at the time that he still hoped to come back one day. His best years in the league were with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, alongside Virat Kohli.
Knee first, then the Big Bash
He had been weighing up a knee injection anyway. Rather than rush to be ready for England, he has gone for the injection and about eight weeks of rehab, aimed at the BBL. The Stars start their season against the Adelaide Strikers at the MCG on 18 December. He will still get his game at the MCG, then, just not in Australian colours.