Bleed-Blue Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Maxwell carves his parallel universe Glenn Maxwell shaped to sweep but held his stroke and let the ball go past him instead, turning his back to it in exaggerated manner. It was the third time in two overs that R Ashwin had bowled a wide down the leg side to Maxwell, and each time it had seemed as though the batsman had provoked him into bowling that line. Other batsmen try and upset a bowler's rhythm by moving conspicuously around the crease; Maxwell had done this with little feints of his hip and shoulder, like a winger toying with a fullback, suggesting he might play a certain stroke without really committing to it. Ashwin had taken two wickets already. His side was defending a total of 205. But Maxwell had reverse-swept him twice already with clinical placement, and that had clearly rattled him. "Why are you scared, Ashwin?" yelled a voice from the grass banks. "He's not Afridi!" The heckler was right. Maxwell isn't really Afridi, even if his strike rate and his ability to clear the ropes puts him in that category of batsman. But he had brought back a vague memory of an entirely different Pakistan batsman in the brief time he had spent at the crease till that point. He had made you think of Javed Miandad. There's no comparing their careers, of course, or their batting styles, but a common thread runs through their wholly different personalities at the crease. Miandad was cocky in a chatty sort of way; Maxwell seems to project a sort of icy disdain. Both approaches, though, are directed towards the same end, that of getting under the bowlers' skins. This aspect of Maxwell's game surely played some role in two of his most notable international innings so far. Last year, in Bangalore, he had walked in at 74 for 4, with Australia going at under four-and-a-half runs an over while chasing 384 in the deciding match of the ODI series against India. Maxwell, impervious to the prevailing circumstances, came in and smashed 60 off 22 balls. During the World T20 last month, Australia lost two wickets in their first over against Pakistan while chasing 192. Maxwell walked in and tonked 74 off 33 balls. In the time he was at the crease, Aaron Finch scored a wholly prosaic 37 off 32 at the other end. Finch carried on to make 65, but none of the other Australians got into double figures as Pakistan wrapped up a 16-run win. Maxwell, that day, seemed to bat in a bubble that excluded everyone else, including his partner at the other end. It didn't even have room for the match situation. The bubble broke when he was dismissed, and normal service resumed. Friday was similar. Punjab were chasing 206, and were 31 for 1 when Maxwell walked in. He saw two more wickets fall before David Miller joined him, at 52 for 3. Maxwell's response to all of this wasn't so much "no problem, I'll handle it" as "I don't really care". You have to be extremely talented to play that way, of course, and there were a couple of occasions when he caressed the ball through the off side with so much grace that you had to rub your eyes and wonder what was going on. There was a bit of Ricky Ponting in the dip of his head at the highest point of Maxwell's backlift, and in the smooth downswing of his bat. Yes, him too. In the end, Maxwell's 43-ball 95, which set Punjab up to win with a level of comfort that didn't seem possible when he had begun his innings, left you pondering a parallel universe. Here was a man who batted like a weird mix of Miandad and Ponting who, in between the flowing drives, the clever laps and reverse-sweeps, slogged rather crudely at a number of deliveries, timing some, missing some, never seeming to care either way. It made you wonder what sort of a batsman he would be if Twenty20 didn't exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganeshran Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I thought I read somwhere on ICF that only losers keep harping of past performances.... Seriously, you may support CSK, but atleast today the Punjabis shut you up! The master race is here to win the war, if occasional battles are lost in that pursuit so be it :ohyeah: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanda14792 Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 YTOS7TmOX7E :mummydance::mummydance: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleed-Blue Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Me....!!! :D Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk First match thread goes to AbhishekS on the Tuesday 22nd Against SRH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 :mummydance::mummydance: its our message to others to :csk: and others:yoyo: The lyrics in that rap perfectly fit CSK :giggle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 First match thread goes to AbhishekS on the Tuesday 22nd Against SRH :nice: make a kickass thread Abhishek :cheer: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleed-Blue Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 :nice: make a kickass thread Abhishek :cheer: Lord do you want to make any Match threads??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Lord do you want to make any Match threads??? I'll take if no one shows interest in any of the games:nice: btw pm Abhishek so that he can see this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleed-Blue Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I'll take if no one shows interest in any of the games:nice: btw pm Abhishek so that he can see this :two_thumbs_up: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbhishekS Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Yayy!!! :D :kxip: Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Yayy!!! :D :kxip: Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk you gotto make thread for match on 22nd.do a good job :cheer: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngindia Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 what a pathetic performance by queen's 11....csk would have finished the chase in 16 overs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 what a pathetic performance by queen's 11....csk would have finished the chase in 16 overs yeah we saw that :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganeshran Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 what a pathetic performance by queen's 11....csk would have finished the chase in 16 overs :agree: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 what a pathetic performance by queen's 11....csk would have finished the chase in 16 overs Yes yes dhoni will definitely not take it to last ball :finger: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganeshran Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Yes yes dhoni will definitely not take it to last ball :finger: CSK would not have taken it to Dhoni :dontknow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 CSK would not have taken it to Dhoni :dontknow: How do you know ? Information still being leaked by fixers 11 ?:giggle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 youngidia is right.CSK bowlers tried hard to finish it in 16 overs but we are too pathetic for that :(( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velu Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 one upset and puppies think they are IPL super power :hehe: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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