Glenn Maxwell's ODI call-up delights cricket world after 'horrible' drama

Cricket fans and commentators have expressed their delight for Glenn Maxwell after the all-rounder was named in Australia's squad for the upcoming ODI series in India. There were fears that Maxwell's career might be over when he suffered a broken leg in a freak accident at a friend's birthday party last November.

He missed the entire BBL season and crucial Sheffield Shield games leading up to Australia's Test tour of India, robbing him of a chance to press for a recall to the national side in red-ball cricket. But in an uplifting twist, Maxwell will return to the national side for the ODI series against India after the Test matches.

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The 34-year-old made a successful comeback to Sheffield Shield with Victoria this week. And while he is still sitting out one-day domestic matches due to the added intensity, he is confident he will be fit to play in the first ODI in Mumbai on March 17.

"I always said I was building to that one-day series, it was always in my mind," Maxwell said on Thursday. "Now that I am closer to that workload I need to be at, it's about trying to maintain that, get the pace back up, and in a couple of weeks time I will be 100 per cent."

Maxwell said he would have liked to be out in the middle sooner, but is ready to make up for lost time. He said: "It probably hasn't happened as fast as I would have liked. I would have liked to be playing cricket a little bit earlier.

"But I think the fact that I knew the timeline for the one-day side – and that was probably the realistic goal – I was able to manipulate my rehab program to fit the timeline that I was racing against. Having not played for three-and-a-half months, I made a conscious decision to make sure I filled up my calendar with cricket to lead into that World Cup at the back end of the year.

"Obviously there's the one-day series which is going to be a big series, especially with the World Cup in India at the back end of the year. It will be a good opportunity for us to try and work out some things and get our game plan ready for the back end of the year, as well as having the IPL straight after it. [It is about] getting used to the Indian conditions again and spending a lot of time working on my game over there, which will then lead into to the Blast and the Hundred."

Cricket world delighted for Glenn Maxwell

Maxwell said he is looking forward to spending some more time at the crease after failing twice while batting at No.6 for Victoria this week. He made 5 and 0 against South Australia.

"Probably, mentally, batting in that position, I wasn't quite there," he said. "In the nets, you can do all the hard work, but to try and get that mental application back in a game is obviously a different thing.

"So that's probably something I'm working on over the next few games – club cricket on Saturday and the Shield game as well. A few more hits out there, and just try and build up that match intensity."

The cricket world was delighted to see Maxwell back in the national side on Thursday, particularly considering the 'horrible' injury threatened to end his career prematurely. “I probably didn’t sleep for two days while I was in agony. It was it was a pretty horrible couple of days. My wife was unbelievable through it all," he said previously.

“I shattered my fibula. So that one I think was the first snap I heard. It was snapped in half, but it also shattered through the bone. There was a bit of a chip off the tibia as well (and) I ruptured all the ligaments on top of my foot as well … the syndesmosis ligaments, they’re all ruptured. I did a good job of it for such an innocuous thing."

Maxwell said the fact the injury cost him a potential recall to the Test side was hard to deal with. “Probably will nag at me for the rest of my life,” he said.

with agencies

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