The Maxwell Revolution
The
Maxwell Revolution
Cricket
has come a long way from when 250 was a winning score in 50 overs. But now 250
runs is being made in 20 -20 cricket also and 250 is no longer a secure total
in ODI too. The modern day cricketers nowadays have the fearless attitude to
play their shots from ball one. They are not afraid to take their chances early
on. This attitude has led to some mammoth totals being made which seem to be
impossible in reality.
What
are the chances of seeing, even in a T20 game, a reverse sweep being played by
a batsman to a ball pitched way outside the leg stump? While this shot is
lucrative at the back end of the innings, how many batsmen would be audacious
to play it if with 10-15 overs left in the innings? Glenn Maxwell is one such
player who is rewriting the rules of batting in the shorter formats of the
game. He is a player who has shown so many times that he can take the attack to
the opposition from ball one and often he has played the reverse sweep on the
first ball he faces.
His
attacking style of cricket has been controversial as it does not allow you to
be as consistent and your stats on paper look really bad. It has indeed worked
for Maxwell quite a few times but has led to his downfall many times and he was
dropped from the ODI too for his inconsistency. You can’t play high-risk, low
percentage cricket and score big regularly. But returning to T20 cricket for
Australia, he shut the critics with a terrific hundred.
Maxwell proved that cricket has been revolutionised
completely when he made unbeaten 145 runs in 65 balls against Sri Lanka in a
T20 match. Thanks to him, Australia was able to make the highest T20 score of
263. His innings comprised of shots all over the field whether it was down the
ground or above the keeper’s head.
It
was an amazing display of batting from the Aussies. It was definitely not easy
for Maxwell to score this big. He was dropped from the ODI squad. There was
lots of pressure on him to perform and more pressure was added when he was
given the responsibility to open the batting. Moreover, it was his first game
of the series in Sri Lanka and he lacked the experience of playing on Sri Lankan turning tracks unlike other players who had already played the tests and
ODIs before the T2O series.
But
beating all these odds, he went out there and played his natural game. Many a
times when we not play our natural game, we often get out quickly. I will give
my example itself. I am more of a player who likes to get his eye in, settle
down and then play some shots. This is
my natural game. But when I don’t play my natural game, I fail most of the
times. Same is with Maxwell. If you tell him to settle down and then play his
shots, he will definitely get out while he is settling down as he has never
played that kind of cricket. Many young batsmen should look up to Maxwell for
his attitude. It takes a lot of courage to play your natural game every time
even if you are being criticised for it.
I
would like to conclude of Maxwell that he is a gifted player with quick hands
and amazing insight of the game. I would like him to continue playing cricket
his way has only those players succeed who play Cricket their way being
indifferent to what other people think or say about their way of playing.
Chanderpaul has been a living example of the line playing cricket your way
because of his unorthodox batting stance.
Questions
This
mammoth score again raised some questions about the imbalance between bat and
ball. First only the big bats give the batsmen an edge over the bowlers but
flat pitches like these, make cricket a batsman’s game completely. But you should salute the bowlers for their
big hearts. The bowl their best no matter they go for 7-8 runs an over in every
match. Some competitive pitches can indeed spice up the game and lead to more
fan following for cricket. Such pitches can lead to good contests between bat
and ball and can lead to exciting matches.
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