“Bowl the ball outside the off stump and make him drag it from there.”
That's what the plan to Maxwell has been for some time now. Bring on a wrist spinner, ask him to tempt Maxwell up and there you go. The ball either goes straight to the deep mid-wicket fielder or in the gloves of the wicket-keeper who does the rest.
It isn't that Maxwell isn't aware about this. His ego is letting him down time and again. What great players do is that they find a way to combat the opposition's plan. That is just what Maxwell is lacking, the ability to control his temptation and hang in there.
Hardik Pandya is a great example of that, he too likes to smash bowlers all over the park. But he has understood that this is international cricket and the bowler who is coming in to bowl has equal ability. He is not going to come up and bowl a hit-me ball.
Yesterday, after he had been kept quiet initially, he just couldn't control himself when he saw Yuzvendra Chahal coming in to bowl. On the first ball of the over, Maxwell comes out of the crease to send the ball into the stands but misses it completely and Dhoni does the rest. That's it, game over!
Bowler wins. Maxwell loses.
I think Maxwell needs to develop as a batsman or else that day won't be far away when the Australian selectors show him the way out of the team.
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