IPL 8: Glenn Maxwell fails more often than he succeeds, and that's fine

As Glenn Maxwell sliced a leg break from Delhi Daredevils’ Imran Tahir to the fielder at deep cover, the on air commentators were voicing their disapproval of his choice of shot. Maxwell had already plundered 15 runs from five balls in the over, and the commentators thought there wasn’t a need to go looking for runs off the last ball. One commentator said, “That’s not smart cricket. He might say that’s how he plays his cricket but that’s not smart.” The other commentator concurred, “That was unnecessary.” [caption id=“attachment_2199080” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Glenn Maxwell. BCCI[/caption] Those were bizarre comments considering the first ball Maxwell faced from Tahir, when he shuffled across his stumps and scooped the ball over the wicket keeper for a couple of runs. The second delivery was thumped over midwicket for a six. After a quiet single, he smashed the fourth delivery he faced once again to deep midwicket for a six. To say to a batsman like Maxwell should have been restrained after already collecting 15 runs in the over just doesn’t make sense. Maxwell’s batting in T20s, and to large extent in other formats too, is a fraught with risk. In the 2015 IPL season, he hasn’t faced more than five deliveries in any of his three innings, collecting a cumulative 28 runs in 14 deliveries. In the match against Rajasthan Royals, he inside edged for a four before being caught while trying to knock the cover off a James Faulkner delivery, splicing it only as far as mid-off. Against the Mumbai Indians, after a slog sweep for four against Suchith, he got out attempting to the repeat the same shot off the same bowler, caught at deep midwicket. If we have learned anything from watching Maxwell bat in the IPL, it is that failures do not faze him and he will continue to hack away. In the 24 IPL innings since 2012 (for DD, MI and KXIP), Maxwell averages 27 runs per dismissal at the strike rate of 179 runs per 100 balls faced. There were 10 innings of single-digit innings (1 unbeaten), and six more where he scored between 10 and 20 runs (1 unbeaten). In all, in 18 off his 24 IPL innings, Maxwell achieved less than his batting average. That could be seen as a failure rate of 75 percent. However, averages do not mean much in the most abbreviated form of professional cricket. Maxwell whacked his way to four scores in excess of 88 with a highest of 95, twice. The speed at which he makes his runs almost guarantees that his side would pile on so many that the opposition is knocked out of the contest. Any franchise would want to have an impact player like Maxwell, (X-factor is the industry buzzword), just for the two or three match-defining innings he could play in a season. By stacking the batting line up with Sehwag, David Miller and to an extent George Bailey, along with Maxwell, KXIP are guaranteed seven or eight wins a season from the individual bats of these players, and there by a spot in the knockout stages of the tournament. It is an added bonus if the slew of batsmen could deliver the franchise a spot in the top two in points table, which allows for two shots at making the final. That turned out to be case for KXIP in 2013. It is a bit surprising that even in the eighth season of IPL, commentators are applying standards of conventional cricket batting to T20 cricket. Players like Maxwell have thrived in this format precisely due to the carefree attitude a batsman can take, since losing a wicket means less in such a short format. Teams have caught on to this logic pretty quickly and have invested heavily in X-factor players like Maxwell. Perhaps, it’s time commentators address it as well in how they describe T20 to their viewers.