Bit weird I had to calm myself down for the first 20 odd balls and rebuild: Maxwell

NEW DELHI: Australia’s big-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell admitted that it was a bit weird for him to calm himself down in the first 20 balls of his innings, before smashing the fastest hundred in Men’s ODI World Cup history when he reached his century in 40 balls against the Netherlands.

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, Maxwell broke the record of fastest ODI World Cup century held by South Africa’s Aiden Markram, who reached three-figure mark off just 49 deliveries at the same venue earlier this month.

He eventually made 106 runs off 44 deliveries, hitting nine fours and eight sixes, to score what is now overall the fourth fastest century in men’s ODI cricket and the fastest-ever hundred for Australia.

“It's a bit weird that I had to calm myself down for the first 20 odd balls and rebuild. I think the circumstances of the timing of the wickets probably changed the way I would have gone about it if it was just me and Davey (David Warner) at the back end.”

“I felt like I was just super selective. Even with the boundaries I was hitting, until I got to about 50 or 60, I was literally hitting them flat through the gap or picking my spots pretty clearly where I wanted to go and it was only the back end where I tried to just pump everything,” he said in the post-match press conference.

Maxwell reached his fifty in 27 balls and then took only 13 balls to get a record-breaking century in a breath-taking assault over Netherlands’ bowling attack. He also conceded that he had one eye on number of deliveries faced at the scoreboard during his whirlwind knock, citing the previous opportunity he missed during 2015 World Cup.

“I'm very aware of them. I'm very aware of balls faced. I love the fastest 50 and 100 records. I think they're pretty cool records. Sometimes to the detriment of myself, I've always probably pushed the boundaries a bit too much.”

“I think against Afghanistan in 2015, I was 88 off 37 and I was like I'm getting into the next two balls I hit one straight to cover and butchered it. I think I got my the fastest 100 next game. So, it was I've been in those positions before I could make fast hundreds when I get on the run - I know I'm difficult to bowl to. It's just about getting past the first ball.”

The last 12 months had been a mixed bag for Maxwell, starting by being out of action for a long time after breaking his leg during a birthday party post the end of Australia’s campaign in the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup. He admitted that the thoughts of the injury came back in his mind after he was out of T20I series against South Africa due to minor ankle injury.

“There's probably moments post the South Africa T20 series when I was forced to go home with a little setback. That was quite a frustrating period. I felt like I had done a lot of good work post the blast, all that rehab back at home in Melbourne and I felt like my strength and my fielding stuff was going really well and to have that set back on day one of my training was quite frustrating.”

“You do start to get some dark thoughts of like, is this going to affect me for the whole World Cup? Am I going to be struggling to get through every game? Am I going to be letting the team down by having to field in cold zones on the field where I'm not getting much ball.”

“That wouldn't have sat well with me I think if that had been the case. The fact that I don't have to be hidden in the field is quite nice. Don't worry, every game still hurts. It's still hard work, but it's nice to get that load, I suppose, and feel confident I can get through a full one day,” he concluded.