India v Australia: Glenn Maxwell has proved his doubters wrong, and we should all be delighted
Updated
OK, I'll say it, but only if you do it with me — I was wrong about Glenn Maxwell.
To be honest, this should not come as much of a surprise because I am generally wrong about most things, but I genuinely never thought I would see the day Glenn Maxwell became a Test century maker.
And if I did, I assumed it would be on some rock solid day-three pitch in Adelaide against a West Indies team already beaten to a pulp with the score on 6-912.
But the prospect of him grinding out a compact, sensible, mature, engaging and quintessentially "Test cricket" hundred did not seem a realistic one.
Throw in a wildcard of an Indian pitch, a spin-bowling brigade that rates as the best on the planet, a pressure cooker of a Test series and a mini-collapse above him, and it seemed we had a better chance of Australian cricket fans not complaining about the Marsh brothers for five minutes than Maxwell going big.
We were dead wrong.
.jpg/8364598 "Glenn Maxwell plays an indescribable shot")
Not only did he survive and impress, Maxwell thrived and inspired. Steve Smith's deeds continue to amaze us, but we expect that of him by now because we know what levels he is capable of.
I don't think it's unfair to say we did not know Maxwell was capable of an innings like this. He had never played an innings of more than 100 balls before in his international career, even in the ODIs where he has made centuries and looked largely at home.
He is averaging 25.80 in the Sheffield Shield this season, which is one of the reasons doubters did not want him in the side for this Test or any others.
Said doubters also correctly pointed to his temperament in previous Tests, his penchant for the unnecessarily extravagant and a home-made technique that is not always the easiest on the eye.
With 104 off 185 balls, he shut us all up. The question is no longer "can Glenn Maxwell do it?", but rather "how many times can Glenn Maxwell do it?".
The number-six spot has been a great point of contention for Australia and a long lime of incumbents have tried and failed to make the position their own.
One century does not mean the position is his forever, but it is a hell of a lot more than the blokes before him have mustered.
Sometimes, all it takes is one breakthrough innings to open the floodgates — Maxwell's captain is proof enough of that.
Let's all cross our fingers that this really is the start of something, because if this is sustainable, we should be absolutely delighted to be wrong.
Topics: cricket, sport, india, australia
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