<\/p>\n
I<\/span>n the days after his unbeaten, frankly unfathomable 201 against Afghanistan<\/a>, Glenn Maxwell wasn\u2019t so much the Wizard of Oz as the Tin Man. The cramps that prompted his incendiary display of stationary power-hitting meant missing Australia\u2019s final group game, the gait still rusted over as he pushed his newborn son\u2019s pram around the team hotel.<\/p>\n But after more massages than a Wagyu cow since that eruption of 21 fours and 10 sixes, the 35-year-old is primed to return for Thursday\u2019s blockbuster semi-final against South Africa at Eden Gardens. And if the Proteas didn\u2019t know it before he struck the first one-day international double century in a run chase, and from No 6 \u2013 turning a pig\u2019s ear of 91 for seven into a silk purse of knocking off 292 \u2013 they are now fully aware that, until his wicket falls, Australia are not beaten.<\/p>\n The temptation is to simply call Maxwell a freak; a mercurial, knockabout bloke with the furry forearms of Ricky Ponting and more trick shots than Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan. When Australia lost his services for the group game against England \u2013 Maxwell concussing himself by falling off the back of a golf cart<\/a> \u2013 it did not come as a massive surprise. After all, it was only last year he broke a leg in two mucking about at a friend\u2019s birthday party.<\/p>\n But underpinning that 360-degree game \u2013 and what led Maxwell to overcome that inability to run singles in the Mumbai heat \u2013 is a singular commitment to expanding his game by turning nets into a laboratory. It can look odd and, in the past, has been misunderstood. Even Steve Smith, a pretty singular cricketer himself, didn\u2019t get it for a spell, excluding Maxwell from an ODI squad in early 2018 with the instructions to \u201ctrain a bit smarter\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is deadly serious and extremely ruthless,\u201d Aaron Finch, the T20 World Cup-winning former Australia captain, tells the Guardian. \u201cThere was a misunderstanding for a time; he might be doing something in the nets that the normal player wouldn\u2019t dream of.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve known him since his first year with Victoria. He was talented but so frustrating. But I didn\u2019t understand him. It\u2019s only when you spend time and start to understand him, you realise he doesn\u2019t see the game the same way. You don\u2019t get the genius by getting him to do the mundane. That\u2019s the wrong word for normal practice \u2013 although it can be mundane.<\/p>\n