Glenn Maxwell has bid farewell to One Day Internationals yet it was on this very stage that he once wrote an epic with the bat.
Standing amidst ruins, he singlehandedly fought against the fearsome Afghan bowling attack. At Wankhede, with his bat, he etched a message: “In cricket, even the impossible can be conquered.”
The journey that began in 2012 finally came to a halt in 2025. What he did in between will surely be remembered must be remembered by cricket itself.
Especially that one World Cup innings, where he showed the Aussie spirit flowing through his veins. He clung to the soil and fought tooth and nail. Chasing 292 against Afghanistan, Australia collapsed to 91 for 7.
No one dared imagine victory was possible in that match. Yet, alongside Pat Cummins, Maxwell stitched an unbroken partnership of 202 runs off 170 balls with Cummins contributing just 12 runs off 68 balls.
His body racked with cramps, at times unable even to stand still, he didn’t stop. On one leg, he played one of the greatest innings in history 201 not out. As he smashed sixes with a numb leg, the gallery echoed with every shot: “Maxi! You are the magician!”
149 matches, 3,990 runs, 77 wickets the numbers say a lot, but the name Glenn Maxwell itself is elite no statistic can confine it. A strike rate of 126 in ODIs that’s no easy feat.
Yet what’s not easy to say, he said with ease: he will no longer walk onto the field in Australia’s elite colors in ODIs. He has drawn the curtain on a vibrant chapter in the world of cricket. Perhaps no more will he strike fear into bowlers’ hearts in this format, no more will he unleash storms across the 22 yards.
At just 36, he has set aside his bat and pads. Cricketers come and go but some names become history. Glenn Maxwell is such a name one who showed cricket how to blend thunder and storm together. But above all, there remains that one word: “Goodbye.”
