25 October - Delhi - Australia player Glenn Maxwell post-match press conference
[Reporter:]
How ill were you? How sick were you?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
Yeah, not great. I was sitting in the changing room and I didn't really want to bat, which is a bit different than last game where I was way too eager to get out there. And then we talked about over arousal levels and I probably reached double maximum if you couldn't tell. But yeah, I was a little bit more chilled when I got out there. Didn't have many high hopes, I think. But yeah, I've been pretty cooked the last couple of days. Coincided with the sleepless night last night with the family over but – Yeah
[Reporter:]
Is it a bit weird that you had to not be over-aroused, you had to under-arouse yourself to hit the fastest century in World Cup history?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
It's a bit weird that I had to calm myself down for the first 20 odd balls and rebuild. I think the circumstances of, I suppose, the timing of the wickets probably changed the way I would have gone about it if it was just me and Davey at the back end. I felt like I was just super selective. 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 and it was only the back end where I tried to just pump everything.
[Reporter:]
Where do you rate this innings? And also, the fact that we are almost halfway through in the World Cup, coming at the stage where you have some important matches coming up. How important is this for you because you didn't have a very good run in ODIs. So how important is that?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
Well, I think the fact that I've made runs in India during the IPL pretty regularly over the last couple of years, so I'm not too worried about people saying that I haven't made runs in ODI cricket because it doesn't really matter, especially my role in one-day cricket. It's so similar to T20, so I just draw on those experiences, knowing that if I do get it right on the day, hopefully my team will be winning. Having had a bit of success this year in India during the IPL, I've come to India during this World Cup full of confidence and even started well in the practice games with a good 70 against Pakistan.
People talk about my last 20 one day games but they're spaced out over 6 years over different continents all over the place and one game at a time every four months, so there's not really much you can sort of go by.
[Reporter:]
Were there any shots that gave you particular satisfaction tonight? We saw the reverse hits and then those two sixes that went over the scoreboard to bring up the century. Any that gave you particular satisfaction?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
There was probably one where I thought I was out, the reverse of Van Beek that went for six over backward point. I thought it was going to be slower into the wicket or back of the length and he bowled it full at I think middle and off. And luckily enough my hand speed got me out of trouble and I suppose that's just the thing. I feel like tonight I actually gave myself a chance to be able to play those shots at the back end, where circumstances and pitch types, I suppose, in the first few games probably didn't allow me to. I was in the stage of rebuilding and trying to get through and trying to bat as long as I possibly could, and just haven't probably had the opportunity. And as I said last game, had the opportunity and threw it away.
[Reporter:]
You were at 75 when two overs were left. So was the century in your mind, you were thinking about the century or you were thinking to go the bang - bang way only?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
It wasn’t really on my mind. I was going to try and farm the strike for the back end. I think it was about five overs to go and I told Pat that I was going to try and control the last five overs as much as I possibly could. If I got it on a run, I thought there was no point in taking singles because it might just be a single back and forth where I could get a bunch of balls in a row and hopefully find some hitting.
I think on a ground like that if you can put pressure on a certain bowler or anyone and get a hold of them a couple of times in a row, you can produce mistakes, you can produce errors. I felt like that was what I did in the 49th over. I was able to put pressure on his good balls to get bad balls, where I could actually hit for sixes. So, I suppose that was just my tactics at the back end. I was lucky enough to get a couple of full tosses at the back end, which highlighted, I suppose, there was a pretty good chance I was going to get 100.
[Reporter:]
So further to that question, do you actually watch the balls faced on the scoreboard when you're playing in innings like that? And do you have some sort of distant awareness of records or not?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
I'm very aware of them. I'm very aware of balls faced. I love the fastest 50, fastest 100 records. I think they're pretty cool records. Sometimes to the detriment of myself, I've always probably pushed the boundaries a bit too much. I think against Afghanistan in 2015, I was 88 off 37 and I was like I'm getting into the next two balls I hit one straight to cover and butchered it. I think I got my the fastest 100 next game.
So, it was I've been in those positions before I could make fast hundreds when I get on the run - I know I'm difficult to bowl to. It's just about getting past the first ball.
[Reporter:]
You started your IPL career here at Kotla, how different is this pitch from the previous one? That has been a struggle, those IPL years, scoring runs here at the Kotla, how do you see the difference in this square and now that there's been a lot of totals of around 400, 380 in this tournament, what do you make of it when it comes to ODI cricket? It's obviously fun when it's T20 cricket. So, what do you make of such surfaces for ODI cricket?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
Well, I think you're referring to 2012. The two games that I played for Delhi were at Kolkata and Bangalore. So, I didn't even play a game here. I wasn't really invited to the ground after that either when all the big dogs arrived.
Yeah, the surface has obviously changed. I think back then we had Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav - We had a pace attack built for speed and bounce on this pitch and it's probably changed over the years. It's been spin, it's been low, it's been hard work and I think this World Cup, when you get a fresh wicket, it's beautiful to bat on and that was really nice out there tonight.
There was only a couple of balls that were a little bit slow off the pitch and reacted a bit different. But apart from that, it was really nice, and to answer your part about the 400 stuff, there's still a lot of things that need to go right to get 400. There still needs to be a platform, there still needs to be solid intent through the middle overs, and then you need a sensational finish. Like you need to be powerful at the back end.
South Africa, when they got their 420 here, they had - was it three blokes get hundreds? And it took something even brilliant from Mark to come out and pump it around after a long partnership which is sometimes not easy to do. A big partnership is sometimes really hard to bat on after in one day cricket because you're expected to keep that momentum, but he did it beautifully.
[Reporter:]
When you look at the last 12 months, not even a year since you broke your leg in those circumstances, were there moments where you thought you wouldn't get back? And I know you had issues there in with setbacks of late as well?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
There's probably moments post the South Africa T20 series when I was forced to go home with a little setback. That was quite a frustrating period. I felt like I had done a lot of good work post the blast, all that rehab back at home in Melbourne and I felt like my strength and my fielding stuff was going really well and to have that set back on day one of my training was quite frustrating. You do start to get some dark thoughts of like, is this going to affect me for the whole World Cup? Am I going to be struggling to get through every game? Am I going to be letting the team down by having to field in cold zones on the field where I'm not getting much ball. That wouldn't have sat well with me I think if that had been the case. The fact that I don't have to be hidden in the field is quite nice.
Don't worry, every game still hurts. It's still hard work, but it's nice to get that load, I suppose, and feel confident I can get through a full one day.
[Reporter:]
Just about your batting, you spoke about the method behind the madness, like how you set up the 49th over. But when you play innings like that, do you just get into a zone where, yes you have your eye on the scorecard, but you finish the innings and you're like - How did I pull that off?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
Yeah, I think I get to a stage I suppose when I'm batting at the back end and I've got a read on the game I can sort of don't try too much out of the ordinary. I don't really lap I didn't really go inside out over cover; I didn't sort of give my stumps away too much. Yeah, I reversed a couple of times but that's only because I sort of had a read on what they were trying to do and the field was up in that position. I didn't really try and take a fielder on in that position and I knew if I could play one or two, I'd get a different type of ball. Then I could cash in on that. And I just felt really clear at the back end. I was able to stand quite still. And I felt hit the ball where it needed to be hit.
[Reporter:]
And just on the when the light show was going on like you stood with your eyes like shut with their hands away - Is it because you're feeling a little ill or do those lights kind of things always affect you?
[Glenn Maxwell:]
Well, I had something like that light show similar happened at Perth Stadium during a Big Bash game and I just felt like it gave me shocking headaches and it takes me a while for my eyes to readjust and I just think it's the dumbest idea for cricketers when you've got this thing coming at you quickly and your eyes take so long to adjust and I think we just lost a wicket and the Perth Stadium lights went nuts and I was at the other end and it took me ages to get my eyes to go again and I felt like I had a headache - so I just try and cover up as much as I possibly can and ignore it but it's a horrible, horrible idea.
Great for the fans, horrible for the players.