Third Test: Glenn Maxwell produces breakout innings only months after he was languishing in club cricket

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Maxy brings up 50 in style1:20

Cricket: Glenn Maxwell brings up his half century in typical fashion.

• March 16th 2017
• 16 hours ago
• /video/video.news.com.au/Sport/Cricket/Australian Internationals/

Glenn Maxwell (left) congratulates Australian captain Steve Smith on his century on Thursday.

GLENN Maxwell has completed one of cricket’s great comeback stories to produce the breakout Test innings Australia has been waiting for.

A season that started with Maxwell languishing in club cricket unable to get a game for his state, has now come a stunning 180 degrees.

The Test career his talent always promised, but had never delivered, is now there for the taking and a maiden century beckons on day two in Ranchi after he finished day one on 82 not out.

LISTEN: The Daily Telegraph’s Ben Horne and the Australian’s Peter Lalor dissect the first day’s play in India.

It’s been an extraordinarily turbulent summer for Maxwell as his international future was put firmly under the microscope, but on Thursday night he showed enormous character to stand up under pressure and in the process answer Australia’s desperate prayers for a solution to their No. 6 dilemma.

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell celebrates bringing up his half century against India in the third Test on Thursday.Source:AFP

Back in December Steve Smith fined and admonished Maxwell for comments he made about teammate Matthew Wade, but on Thursday captain and prodigal son combined forces for the partnership that could clinch Australia the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Their spectacular unbeaten hundred-run stand was the biggest of the series and came when Australia was on the ropes at 4-140 on a deck where they needed to post a huge total.

MATCH REPORT: Smith hits back with defiant century

Maxwell had to win back the trust and support of a playing group that had lost faith with his attitude, and to his credit, the 28-year-old put his head down and worked.

Biding his time, Maxwell took the opportunity presented by Mitchell Marsh’s injury and made an instant impression in his first Test since late 2014.

Putting his Big Show reputation to one side, Maxwell faced 56 balls before he hit a boundary — this from a man who once smashed an ODI hundred from 51 rocks.

There were glimpses of Maxwell’s destructive tendencies, __like when he brought his maiden Test half century up with a giant six.

Glenn Maxwell (left) congratulates Australian captain Steve Smith on his century on Thursday.Source:AP

But overall, this was the patient, watchful game Maxwell has long pleaded for selectors to consider.

Typecast as the Twenty20 big bang specialist, Maxwell has always said long-form cricket is his strongest form and yesterday he showed why.

Australia’s hunt for a permanent all-rounder has been a frustrating and futile exercise, but now Maxwell has a golden opportunity to cement his place and by the Ashes play his first Test on home soil.

Maxwell’s journey to Thursday’s big moment in Ranchi has been exhaustive.

In India back in 2013 and the UAE in 2014 he was considered an automatic selection for the touring party, due to the skills that leant him to cricket in the sub-continent.

Smith gives AUS upper hand2:12

Cricket: Highlights from the IND v AUS Test series.

• March 16th 2017
• 14 hours ago
• /video/video.news.com.au/Sport/Cricket/Australian Internationals/

But by Sri Lanka last year Maxwell was left off the bus as it became increasingly clear selectors were running out of patience with his inconsistency on and off the field.

Maxwell — a World Cup hero — was suddenly no longer a fixture in the one-day team and the final straw came when he made comments questioning the authority of teammate and Victorian captain Matthew Wade before Australia’s ODI series against New Zealand.

The Australian hierarchy came down on him __like a ton of bricks, with him copping a fine from the leadership group and Smith and coach Darren Lehmann both giving him a public lashing.

Lehmann suggested Maxwell was light-years away from playing Test cricket unless he can find a way to score first-class hundreds.

But Maxwell is a freakish talent, and just like he can change a game in an over, his fortunes too have turned on a 20 cent piece.

Originally published as Oh yes, the Big Show is back