Glenn Maxwell magic at Wankhede: Unreal or true? | Cricket News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Back in September 1986, when Australian batsman Dean Jones, suffering from severe dehydration during the tied Test against India at the Chepauk in Chennai, requested his captain Allan Border if could retire hurt because of exhaustion, the Australian skipper taunted him back: “We’ll get a real Australian, a Queenslander, Greg Ritchie, if you’re not up to the job.”.” It was a comment which hurt the proud Victorian.Fired by the jibe, he grinded it out for perhaps the bravest double century in the history of the game, which saw him suffer from ‘involuntary urination’ and being hospitalized later.
37 years later, suffering from severe cramps, another Victorian, Glenn Maxwell, cramping severely and batting on virtually one leg, or at times, no legs, brought back memories of Jones’s gallant knock-though this one -coming in an ODI-was more of a blitzkreig, sending bowlers to all the parts of the ground in the face of adversity.
In a way, as Ian Bishop put it on ‘X,’ Maxwell showed that ‘footwork is overrated.”

As Australian captain Pat Cummins rightly put it, Maxwell’s magical, unbeaten double hundred-a blistering 128-ball 201*, studded with 21 fours and 10 sixes, which pulled Australia out from the jaws of a defeat against Afghanistan for an improbable three-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday night, left you a special feeling that such knocks evoke when you are in the stadium when such acts are performed: “I was there.” From a man known popularly as the ‘Big Show,’ this was indeed the ‘show of a lifetime.’
Battling cramps which saw him lie flat on the ground and next man Adam Zampa almost walk in, he carried the Aussies single-handedly into the semifinals of the 2023 ODI World Cup, which will now always be remembered for Maxwell’s heroic knock on the night.
“I think that’s probably the greatest ODI innings ever. We’re just chatting about it, all the players, and we’ve decided it’s one of those days where you just go, I was there in the stadium the day Glenn Maxwell chased down that total by himself,” Cummins said.

Indeed, Maxwell’s epic knock ranks right up there with the best-on ‘X’ Ravi Shastri compared it to Kapil Dev’s magical 175 -which won India the match after they had been reduced to 17 for five at Tunbridge Wells -in the 1983 World Cup against Zimbabwe.
Post Maxwell’s devastating act, TOI asked Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood in the ICC ‘Mixed Media’ Zone about how does one stop a freak like Maxwell, who can scoop or reverse scoop a ball outside off-stump for a six to fine leg or third man at will?
“I’m pretty happy (that) he’s in my team. He’s a 360 (degree) batsman, like ‘SKY’ (Surya Kumar Yadav) or Jos Buttler at times. You don’t know where to put the fielders, he’s got so many shots, as we saw tonight. It’s hardwork,” he replied.
After his team was left shell-shocked by Maxwell’s bludgeoning blade, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott was asked if his boys could’ve tried more to stop Maxwell from taking singles when he was badly down with cramps.

“Well, he kept hitting boundaries, so, there wasn’t really much singles going, so we didn’t have to stop the singles. He kept hitting them in the stands, so we can’t put fielders in the stands. I wish we could have. But full credit to him, the way that he played to get a double hundred is phenomenal. He deserved to win the game; he got a double hundred,” he said.
It was the sort of innings which wins the crowd’s heart for you, as long as the home team isn’t involved! Chants of ‘Raashid, Raashid (for Afghanistan leggie Rashid Khan) turned into screams of ‘Maxwell, Maxwell’ on Tuesday night, as the Wankhede spectators, mesmerized by Maxwell’s fireworks, sensed that something special was unveiling in front of their eyes.
For someone who shared a record, unbeaten, match-winning 202-run stand with Maxwell for the eight wicket with Maxwell, Cummins could actually sense that the mood of the crowd had changed from initially rooting for Afghanistan to now egging the Aussies towards an incredible win, after they looked down in the dumps at 91 for seven in the 19th over.

“The crowd’s normally on Maxie’s side whenever he’s playing over here. You could hear it just getting louder and louder with each boundary and I think as he started not moving his feet and still scoring boundaries. You can hear them start going crazy… awesome crowd today,” gushed Cummins.
Much to Australia and the ‘Maxwell fan club’s’ relief, Cummins assured that despite having cramped badly during his epic knock, ‘Maxi,’ who had smashed a40-ball century earlier against The Netherlands in the competition, would be fit enough to take part in the rest of the World Cup campaign for Australia.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. He was cramping, but I think you saw out there how much he loves playing for Australia and he’ll do anything to play,” the fast bowler said.
After a point, when Maxwell, unable to run for his runs, was just going for boundaries, Cummins, who chipped in with an invaluable 12 not out off 68 balls, was more like a member in the audience, dropping his bat applauding his partner’s freakish, terrific strokeplay. Cummins rightly termed a “freak,” “who makes it looks so easy.”
“It’s just a one-man show. It’s just like, it looks so easy. I’m up the other end and I don’t see any gaps in the field, I don’t see where I’m going to score a boundary and it seems like every time, he sees that he just runs away for four. He still can’t move and still manages to hit a six of the third man with reverse – he’s a freak, he hits into different areas, again, he makes it look so easy. And when you’re up against someone like that as a bowler, you just, you don’t have many options,” praised the Australian captain.
Cumins revealed that when he walked into the middle at 91 for seven in the 19th over, with Australia needing 201, he was basically looking for “survival,” though Maxwell may have already been plotting a coup.
“The ball was still spinning a little bit and they were bowling really well. For me, it was just basically hanging in there. Maxie was still scoring quite freely. We knew it’s the kind of wicket that gets easier. I didn’t really feel like run rate was ever going to be an issue with Maxie still at the crease. So, for me it was just about basically survival and just hope we get a look at some of the other bowlers that maybe that wicket doesn’t suit as much. It was a pretty simple plan. (We) I didn’t look too far ahead. I think Maxie might be a bit different. I think he’s always plotting his way to a win. So, I think even 200 runs out, he was kind of mapping out how he was going to do it. I was just trying to survive.”