Sydney: If T20 has brought about innovations in batting, Glenn Maxwell has taken it to a different level with his brand of power hitting.

More than Australia setting up a semi-final clash with India or New Zealand’s Martin Guptill smashing 237 against the West Indies on Saturday, it is Maxwell’s latest creativity — a half swat, half upper cut and more in keeping with tennis’ cross-court volley — that has been the topic of discussion across pubs and restaurants here.

With most struggling to describe it, Maxwell himself took to twitter to solve the mystery. “And to clarify, the shot is called the back away, look away, deliberate cut through point... Haha! Well bowled Wahab! Had me...” he tweeted.
He was on track to notch his fifth 50-plus score in six innings but ran out of time as Shane Watson hit the winning runs against Pakistan on Friday.

“I have practised them,” Maxwell said of the latest addition to his armoury. “You spend most of your net sessions facing Mitchell Johnson, (Mitchell) Starc, (Pat) Cummins and (Josh) Hazlewood… So you have to find ways of avoiding them or hitting them. I have been doing my best to try and practice that.  I have practised that shot in the nets.”
So if the Mohammed Shamis and the Umesh Yadavs are at the receiving end of ‘Maxwell special’ on Thursday, it will not be surprising.

The Australians arrived here from Adelaide almost an hour after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men made their way into the Sydney Inter Continental from Melbourne. With the Qantas arrival lounge overflowing with mediapersons, Maxwell seemed a bit perplexed.

“We are playing India, right…Seems so by the media presence,” he quipped.

Call it their arrogance or confidence or an effort to camouflage their feelings, Maxwell didn’t wish to give any special importance to India.

“I think we targeted them pretty well this summer. They haven’t won a game against us all summer, hopefully we can make the most of that. Hopefully, that is pretty clear in their memories,” he remarked. “We’ve been dominant all summer in the ODI format… Hope to continue doing that.”

Probed on India’s strengths, Maxwell said: “India are a very good side, they wouldn’t be here in the semi-finals if they weren’t a good side. We have to bring out our A game when we play them this week.”

So how would he rate the teams’ chances 50-50? “What are the bookmakers saying?” he retorted.

Does he think it will be Australia’s bowling vs India’s batting? “I think it is batting and bowling versus batting and bowling.”

The Virat Kohli factor has been a big deterrent for Australia all summer and it will be no surprise if they decide to pepper him with short-pitched stuff. “We haven’t had a team meet yet, but it will be pretty similar to the summer. We did pretty well during the summer against them. I am sure we will go ahead with similar plans and we will have a few tricks up our sleeve,” said Maxwell.

The spinner-friendly conditions at the Sydney Cricket Ground has been much talked about, especially after JP Duminy and Imran Tahir knocked out Sri Lanka in the quarters. But Maxwell is keeping fingers crossed.

“Hopefully, it’s a fast one… It has been a pretty good wicket this year and hopefully there is a bit of grass there as well,” he said.

Having had the experience of playing Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the IPL doesn’t count much in the World Cup, Maxwell said. “The IPL is a bit different to the World Cup, it means different pressure, different situation. I bat at No.6 and there are still five guys ahead of me who are going to be batting first. Hopefully they can make the most of the conditions. My job is to finish it off,” he said.

Maxwell doesn’t agree batting has been a cause for concern for Australia. “We are still making big totals and I think we have only been bowled out once in this tournament. I don’t think it is too much of a worry.”

The Aussies are taking confidence from their victory against Pakistan. “It was a pretty incredible win. The boys played outstanding cricket. To win it as comfortably as we did in the end, gives us great confidence.

“It was a little bit uncomfortable at times, but I think when you look at the overall result with six wickets and 90-odd balls left, it was very comfortable.”