Gavaskar turns admirer of 'careless' Maxwell, says 'I used to get off mark in 40 balls'

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell on Wednesday left former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar awestruck with his scintillating knock in the World Cup 2023 match against the Netherlands as the all-rounder went on to hit a 40-ball hundred, the fastest in the tournament’s history.

Notably, Maxwell walked into bat only in the 40th over of the Australian innings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and hit the ground running. He went on a rampage and reached the 50-run mark in 27 balls and scoring the next 50 in meagre 13 balls to reach the triple figure mark. His innings was studded with eight sixes and nine fours.

Maxwell was hitting those trademark reverse sweeps at will and he hit fast bowlers into the deep point region, leaving fans in awe in New Delhi. He hit the fastest hundred in ODI World Cup history, breaking Aiden Markram’s 49-ball record which he created a few weeks back. It was a sensational knock as Maxwell bettered his own record of 51 balls, which was the fastest hundred in ODIs by an Australian batter.

“This one (reverse hit) has got to be one of the greatest cricketing shots. It's gone for a six. It should be a 12. The bowling after that got a bit rattled because they just didn’t know where to bowl. It was an incredible effort. He had an average of 12, to score the runs that he did and at the rate at which he did. It was amazing,” Sunil Gavaskar, who played that famous 174-ball 36 not out in 1975 World Cup, told Star Sports after Australia posted 399.

“I took 40 balls to get off the mark. He has scored a hundred in 40 balls, amazing, amazing,” he added.

Criticism turns into praise

Interestingly, Maxwell turned Gavaskar’s sharp criticism into lavish praise in a matter of hours. Minutes before the World Cup tie between Australia and Netherlands kicked off the Australian all-rounder drew flak from Gavaskar in a pre-match show on Star Sports. He strongly flayed Maxwell for his dismal performance in the tournament and was particularly critical of his shot selection against Pakistan.

“It’s a matter of ego. I think he was happy at RCB when he was given the No.3 slot. He felt he was important, he needed to make a contribution every match. Here he is batting at 5, 6, and 7. In cricket, there is a thin line between carefree and careless. He has been on the careless side (in this World Cup) more. That first-ball dismissal against Pakistan, what kind of a shot was that? So clearly, (he was) careless and not carefree,” Gavaskar said.

However, Maxwell, with his blistering knock, not only proved a point or two but also broke a string of records. He now holds the record of the fastest-ever World Cup century off 40 balls. It was also the fastest century by an Australian in ODIs. Maxwell is also the first Aussie to score 100-plus runs in the final ten overs of an ODI. He struck eight sixes in his knock, which is the second most by an Australian in a World Cup match, along with Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting. He and Pat Cummins added 107 runs for the seventh wicket, which is the highest for the side for the same or lower down the order in a World Cup innings.

Maxwell was going through a lean patch in the World Cup 2023 as he had managed just 49 runs in the first 4 matches for Australia. Maxwell got out for a first-ball duck while trying to go after the Pakistan bowling attack straightaway in Bengaluru.