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Mad Max vs Mercurial Ash

The battle between Ravichandran Ashwin and Glenn Maxwell could go a long way in deciding Thursday's semifinal contest. While the off-spinner has bowled a whopping 245 dot balls in this tournament, the swashbuckling middle-order bat boasts a strike-rate of 183.53

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Glenn Maxwell
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Back in the 1990s, the sobriquet 'Mad Max' fit Aravinda de Silva perfectly. But over the past couple of years, Glenn Maxwell has taken over the mantle. Showing scant regard for variables like situation and opposition, the Aussie goes about his business with audacity. Blessed with the capability of playing shots from within and outside the textbook — in most cases it's the latter — Maxwell thrills you with his daredevilry. His refreshing approach in ODI cricket, more so in this World Cup, has made him a bowler's nightmare.

But that's the beauty of the man, isn't it? His see-the-ball-smash-the-ball mentality coupled with an expansive catalogue of strokes sets him apart from the rest. So how do you think India can stop, let alone counter, this 21st century phenomenon?

Well, MS Dhoni surely has a bowler capable of mind-mapping his way into Maxwell's psyche. R Ashwin's 12 wickets in seven games don't make for compelling reading, but nor do Maxwell's 301 runs in five outings. If Maxwell's X factor is his boldness and the pace with which he scores his runs, then Ashwin's forte is his stop-the-runs-and-pick-up-wickets approach.

Of the 402 legal deliveries (67 overs) he has sent down in this World Cup, a whopping 245 have been dot balls. That puts him behind only New Zealand's Trent Boult (267 out of 396). The others on this unusually effective list of bowlers are Boult's new-ball partner Tim Southee (237 out of 384) and South Africans Morne Morkel (237 out of 355), Imran Tahir (236 out of 404) and Dale Steyn (236 out of 360).
In the first game against Pakistan in Adelaide, Ashwin got a wicket in his third over. He finished with figures of 8-3-41-1.

Against South Africa in Melbourne, he bowled 10 overs unchanged to take 3/41. A four-wicket haul against the UAE in Perth was followed by another impressive showing against the West Indies, also at the WACA Ground. The only time Ashwin went for some runs was against Zimbabwe in Auckland (10-0-75-1). In the quarterfinal against Bangladesh, he came on to bowl in the 11th over, but was taken off right away. His second spell saw him send down eight consecutive overs. He eventually finished with 10-1-30-0.

Maxwell's numbers are no less eye-popping. The 26-year-old is one of only seven players to have scored at least 300 runs at better than a run a ball. And his strike-rate is an astonishing 183.53. That's nearly 40 runs (per 100 balls) more than AB de Villiers of South Africa, another batsman who scores a perfect 10 on the entertainment quotient. West Indian Chris Gayle (340 runs, 117.24) must be an upset man at No. 3, but that's what you get for turning it on once every five games. New Zealand double centurion Martin Guptill (498 runs, 110.42), Zimbabweans Sean Williams (339 runs, 109) and Brendan Taylor (433 runs, 106.91), and Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara (541 runs, 105.87) complete the list.

Ashwin's long-term coach Sunil Subramaniam believes the 28-year-old's contest with Maxwell will make for gripping viewing. "I can't wait to watch them have a go at each other," said the Chennai-based spin doctor who works at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Academy. "Off-spinners are generally the most creative of all spinners. They are restless. They look to do something new all the time. In that respect, the number of dot balls bowled by Ashwin is just phenomenal," he explained.

So what is Ashwin doing right? Ashwin is as cerebral a cricketer as you would ever find. The fact that he is an engineer by qualification helps. But in the past, he would often over-intellectualise his bowling. His mind seemed to be cluttered with too many theories. Isn't cricket meant to be a simple game between ball and bat? He would change his action, try different variations and, in the process, lose is mojo.
However, in this World Cup, he has not deviated from the basics. "He is gripping the ball well and not hesitating to flight it. Whenever a spinner uses his wrist well, he ends up bowling well. Ashwin is doing that. He is using his body — torso, shoulder, back and legs to give the ball a good tweak," said Subramaniam, who is pleased with his pupil's boldness.

Subramaniam wants Ashwin to create the angles by bowling around the wicket to unsettle Maxwell. "This will be his biggest challenge. Thanks to the pacers who have done a fabulous job, Ashwin hasn't experienced too much pressure in this World Cup," he said. That's right. The earliest he came on to bowl was in the 11th over, against Ireland, who were sitting on 60/0.

For the record, Subramaniam and Ashwin speak almost every day. But for nearly two months, the maverick duo hasn't spoken about cricket. "There is no need to. He is doing everything right," Subramaniam said. So what do they talk? "General stuff, our common friends and the local cricket league here in Chennai. Actually, Ashwin owns and co-owns three clubs that play in the fourth and fifth divisions of the TNCA League," said Subramaniam, who picked up 285 wickets in 74 first-class games between 1998 and 2001.

On Saturday, Maxwell kick-started the typical Aussie mind games by reminding India of their torrid time before the World Cup. And it would safe to assume that he must be licking his bat at the prospect of facing the same bunch of bowlers he and his teammates had milked all summer. But lest we forget, the Indian attack has undergone a sea change. Born-again is the word. Deadly is another.

The Starcs and Johnsons haven't snared 70 wickets in seven games. Nor have the Steyns and Morkels or, for that matter, the Boults and Southees. That impeccable feat has been achieved by Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with some help from the part-timers. In other words, Maxwell could do better by brushing his memory.
 

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