Glenn Maxwell was a hot topic of debate during India’s tour of Australia. Selectors didn’t prefer him for the Test squad irrespective of a decent performance in the Sheffield Shield matches.
Every corner in the cricketing world discussed about his batting position in the ODI format. However, the captain and coach had him lower down the order to finish the games big.
A few weeks later, Maxi showed us a different side of his game in the first two T20 games in the tour of India. Two match-winning innings for Australia which helped Australia chase down the targets set by India. India had tasted their first series loss under Virat Kohli’s captaincy at home. All credits to Maxwell’s dominating and matured game.
Maxwell’s half-century helped Australia chase 127 at Vizag where Umesh Yadav couldn’t defect 14 runs in the final over of the game. Bangalore saw a much better, improved and matured innings from Maxwell where he formed partnerships along with Short and Handscomb to take his team to a comfortable victory. Came in at 22/2 as a replacement to Finch at the crease, Maxwell played sensible innings along with D Arcy Short. He played the big shots whenever there was an opportunity, but, rotated the strike well to keep the scoreboard moving.
India’s ploy of bowling outside off for him didn’t work well as Maxi negotiated it playing straight down the ground. Short and Maxwell scored more than eight runs per over and kept the run rate required under 12 which was achievable with wickets in hand. Handscomb joined Maxwell at the fall of Short and done well enough to rotate the strike which ensured Maxwell had enough opportunity to play big shots.
He scored two big sixes in Chahal’s final over, and Sidharth Kaul was taken for a toll in the 18th over of the match which placed Australia in the driving seat to win the match without taking any risk in the final two overs of the game.
Maxwell deservingly scored his third T20 hundred and helped Australia seal the series 2-0 with a boundary in the final over of the match. The series win will help Aussies with their confidence ahead of the ODI series even though it won’t answer all their problems. However, the way Maxwell played both the games will provide them with greater enthusiasm to go into the ODI series and world cup.
[…] The Maxwell show against India […]