Sri Lanka vs Australia, 1st T20I: Glenn Maxwell pleased with his comeback
SL vs AUS, 1st T20I: Glenn Maxwell pleased with his comeback
Australia’s Glenn Maxwell has pretty much shut the critics with his dramatic comeback in the shortest format. His unbeaten 145 off 65 deliveries against Sri Lanka in first Twenty20 International (T20I) on Tuesday in Pallekele was the talk of the town. He is hopeful that this innings puts him back on track to represent Australia in longer formats. With this innings, Maxwell also became the second highest individual scorer in T20Is and drove his side to world record tally, sailing them to 85-run victory. Maxwell, who was loomed with self-doubt, was pleased to make strong comeback in the shorter format, with a hope to cement his place permanently in longer format as well. Full Cricket Scorecard: Sri Lanka vs Australia 1st T20I at Pallekele
With the score of 263 for 3, Australia went past the score of 260 for 6 set by Sri Lanka against Kenya in ICC T20 World Cup 2007 and also matched the score of 263 for 5 posted by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against Pune Warriors (PW) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 edition. Maxwell’s highest international score got sweeter as it came after he was dropped for the longer format and was left out from One-Day International (ODI) squad against South Africa. As reported on Indian Express, Maxwell spoke after the match and said, “I’ve been out of the ODI team for a while now, so to get my first crack back in the main team and to do as well as I did today was brilliant. I had doubted a fair bit about my ability at this level and to come out and strike the ball like I did today was really pleasing.”
On Tuesday, he opened for the first time for Australia and broke the jinx as middle-order batsman, on which he said, “When you’re in the middle order you have to be proactive the whole time and it seems that if you get out playing a big shot at that stage of the game, it all falls on your shoulders. At the top of the order you’ve got a bit more freedom to get yourself into the game and just play pretty normal cricket shots without taking too many risks.” ALSO READ: Run-fest in limited-overs cricket turning fans away?
Maxwell very well covered it up for Australia’s regular opening batsman Aaron Finch was ruled out due to broken finger but was there on the field to remind Maxwell that he owns the record of highest individual score in T20I with score of 156 that he scored against England in 2013. Ultimately, Maxwell was unable to get on strike long enough in the last few overs to overhaul Finch’s mark but the 27-year-old thought the innings could mark a turnaround in his fortunes.
He further mentioned, “I hold pretty high standards for myself when I do play that level, I expect to dominate it, I expect to score a lot of runs. Having that innings at the MCG, I thought 2016 was the year I was going to break open world cricket. And then to just drop off completely in the one-day format was really disappointing.” ALSO READ: Senanayake fined for breaching ICC Code of Conduct
Maxwell did mention about him being hurt on being ruled out for three-Test series against Sri Lanka, in which they were swept by 3-0. Despite his prowess on the sub-continent, Maxwell thinks he deserves a chance to add to his three test caps on home soil against South Africa and Pakistan later this year. On talking about his stint in Test cricket, Maxwell said, “All my red ball runs have been made in England or Australia so on the back of that, I’d like to be picked in Australia.”