Going forward, the Aussie will look to ace the consistency test, and with the T20 World Cup coming up, Australia might have gotten a serious boost.
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Often times in cricket, or any sport for that matter, we see players reaching their peak at a young age and burning out a little too early. These are the players who are, usually, burdened with a lot of hype, too much for their own good sometimes. A classic example of one such Indian player is Unmukt Chand. Touted to be the next big thing in Indian cricket a number of years ago, only to be lost with time. Another player whose fortunes, that many thought had turned out the same way, was Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell. When he burst onto the IPL scene with the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), he was praised around the world of cricket as maybe the next Australian legend. He could do everything. He sometimes single-handedly won games for Punjab and even Australia, and it was not just batting that he excelled at. He was also a reliable bowler and a decent fielder.
So when someone like him scores 59 runs off 41 deliveries, one would deem it routine of someone of his calibre. But what about someone who was a victim of burning out too early and somehow is managing to mount an incredible career revival? Maxwell’s half-century, believe it or not, is his first in five IPL seasons. His last one came at India’s oldest cricket ground, the Eden Gardens, against the Kolkata Knight Riders, in 2016. He had scored 68 off 42 balls at the time. It is almost poetic for Maxwell to finally reach the half-century mark at India’s second oldest cricket ground, the Chepauk stadium.
It might sound like a fluke but what if it is not? Maybe this tournament, the 2021 Indian Premier League, is Maxwell’s stage for redemption. Maybe it is the stage that propels Maxwell to the explosive batsman that he once was, and who knows what he can do if he finds that kind of form again. It is interesting to note that the Aussie had not hit a single six in the 2020 IPL, but started off this season with a couple against the defending champions Mumbai Indians.
We can go on talking about how this tournament could be his redemption, or how symbolic everything is, but what really matters is not something as complicated. What is most important is consistency, the toughest test of them all. You can have three great games but it will not mean a thing if you do not perform well for the rest of the season. What Maxwell needs to focus on, even more than winning the IPL, is keeping his game intact. Just like one good game can turn things around for a player, one bad game can also have the same effect.
Maxwell needs to do everything in his power to keep his good run of form going. The IPL is a good short-term goal to keep one motivated, but he also needs to keep one eye on the bigger picture, and that is the Australian national side and the ICC T20 World Cup. Even if he does not win the IPL, if the big Australian can get back to his best and go on to win the T20 World Cup, that would be a redemption story for the ages.
