The Glenn Maxwell Story Is One With Exclamation Marks, Not Pauses!

He has hit not one but two T20I centuries for Australia against India. He has even tormented the Sri Lankans with a three figure score in a format where batsmen often perish without making a score. Moreover, he didn’t even leave England alone in T20I cricket, scoring a century a few seasons ago. And as seen a few hours ago, it was time for the West Indies, forget not, two time champions of T20I cricket, to face the brutal assault waged by Glenn Maxwell.

In a world where we are often so overly consumed by all-time greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the Universe Boss Chris Gayle and without much doubt, Mr. 360 AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell humbles us.

He tells the fan that big hitting and putting on a great show with the bat isn’t only restricted to these big names as if they had some exclusive right over the craft.

Maybe that is why Glenn Maxwell is ably nicknamed the Big Show

And a few hours ago, as witnessed at the Adelaide Oval, the 35-year-old put on a cracker of a big show, true to his moniker, by subjecting the West Indies to a brutal assault that they may take months and even a year to forget. Quite possibly, they may never forget this one ever.

It took Glenn Maxwell just 50 odd deliveries, which doing simple schoolboy math suggests 8.2 overs, to hit a century. This being his fifth in T20 international cricket, lest it is forgotten.

Pounding 8 sixes, some of which reached several rows back into the soaring Adelaide Oval stands along with 12 boundaries, Glenn Maxwell fired 96 of his 120 unbeaten runs by just way of boundaries.

The West Indies may just have sensed an opening after they sent David Warner and Mitch Marsh packing without the two usually dangerous batsmen accounting any sizeable runs.

But from what followed thereon in, was the stuff of legends.

It was time for the Big Show as Maxwell launched into a merciless attack in the second of the three T20I series; this crucial contest eventually going Australia’s way at the back of some white ball bashing where experienced and very capable operators at the T20I level in Alzarri Joseph and Andre Russell subjected to clean hitting.

What of course didn’t help the West Indies cause one bit was that while they had to face the Glenn Maxwell onslaught at one end, the Kew-born batter making light work of Russell and even former captain Holder, there was David attacking Romario Shepherd from the other end.

The flick of the wrists, the brilliant ball placement into the gaps beautifully accompanied the powerful strikes with which Glenn Maxwell regaled tens of thousands who had gathered to see what was ultimately a rain of runs at Adelaide.

Ultimately, what works for Glenn Maxwell isn’t the fact that he has the gift of scoring runs rampantly, instead of having to toil hard for them. Perhaps it is this enviable quality of maintaining a dangerous strike rate despite having played plenty of international cricket for Australia at the highest-possible level.

Which is why perhaps it makes a bit of sense to factor in an important realisation.

Just as important it is to recount the stats of our favourite, irreplaceable names in the elite Fab Four of world cricket, maybe it is just as important to not forget an absolutely incredible Glenn Maxwell stat; and it’s not the incredible feat of having already scored 5 T20I centuries for Australia; something that not even Gayle, Dilshan or De Villiers have achieved.

The fact of the matter is that Glenn Maxwell still has a T20I strike rate north of 150 despite playing well over 100 games for his nation.

But just how well do we mortals who forever remain celeb-hungry celebrate this incredible achievement?