In a stunning turn of events, cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has taken a surprising U-turn after witnessing Glenn Maxwell’s remarkable performance in the World Cup match against the Netherlands. Maxwell’s explosive batting display, which resulted in the fastest century in World Cup history, has left Gavaskar in awe. Gavaskar had previously criticised Maxwell in the pre-match show as “careless” shot selection and lack of responsibility in previous matches. However, Maxwell’s extraordinary knock has forced Gavaskar to reassess his earlier comments.

During the matter of hours, Glenn Maxwell turned Sunil Gavaskar’s pointed criticism into glowing praise. In a pre-match show on Star Sports, Gavaskar heavily criticised Maxwell for his poor performance in the ongoing World Cup. He was particularly critical of Maxwell’s shot selection against Pakistan’s match, where he was out for a golden duck while attempting a wild slog against Shaheen Afridi. “His ego has taken centre stage. When he got the No.3 slot at RCB, I think he felt important, so he had to contribute every match. He is batting at five, six, and seven. In cricket, there is a thin line between careless and carefree. Gavaskar, said that he has been on the careless side more in the ongoing World Cup. The first ball dismissal against Pakistan, what kind of shot was that? In other words, he was careless and not carefree,” Gavaskar explained.

The way Maxwell batted on Wednesday, he certainly was trying to prove a point or two, although it is almost impossible that he heard Gavaskar’s comments before walking out to bat. When he came in to bat at No.6, the right-hander broke countless records with his power-hitting. With 40 balls, he scored the fastest-ever World Cup century. In addition to being the first Australian to score 100-plus runs in the final ten overs of an ODI, Maxwell scored 100 runs. In his knock, he struck eight sixes, which is the second most in a World Cup match by an Australian after Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting. For the seventh wicket, he and Pat Cummins added 107 runs, the highest total in a World Cup innings for the same or lower order.

A total of 399/8 was registered by Australia thanks to his 106 off just 44 balls and a total of 90 by the Netherlands. Australia therefore recorded the biggest victory (in terms of runs) in World Cup history, winning by 309 runs. It was Maxwell’s outstanding batting that forced Gavaskar to reverse his opinion of Maxwell’s batting. “A shot like this must have to be one of the greatest in cricket history. It has to go for a six. This was an incredible shot. He should have received 12. After the first couple of sixes, his bowling was a bit ragged. The batsmen had no idea where to bowl. They tried bowling slower ones, they tried bowling around the midriff. On the post-match show in Star Sports, he said, “It took me 40 balls to get off the mark, but he scored a century.”

Following Australia’s quick losses, Maxwell calmed himself down. It’s a little weird because I had to rebuild and settle down for the first twenty oddballs. When Davey and I were the only ones at the back end, I believe the conditions around the timing of the wickets would have altered my approach. I thought I was simply very picky. Only at the tail end did I attempt to simply pump everything, Maxwell said. “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.”