The day the real Glenn Maxwell stood up

Glenn Maxwell celebrated his Test recall with his highest score in Baggy Green, a crucial unbeaten 82 on day one of the third Test in Ranchi.

But it wasn’t the swashbuckling, risk-taking, mercurial Maxwell we’ve seen at times from the Victorian allrounder in Australia colours.

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The Maxwell that was on display at the JSCA Stadium was the one he’s been promising exists; the one whose best format is Test cricket and not the limited-overs versions where he’s made a name for himself.

First of all, there was only one reverse sweep. One.

His trademark shot was kept in the closet until the last half an hour before stumps, ultimately unnecessary on a pitch that despite not being the most aesthetically pleasing was a thing of beauty for the run-deprived batsmen of the series.

Couple a flat pitch with a lightning outfield and all the batsmen needed was to pick the gap and reap the rewards.

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Secondly, the big shots were few, far between and effective.

His first boundary, a handsome lofted drive down the ground that found the boundary on the bounce, came from his 57th ball.

Thirty-eight balls later, Maxwell put Jadeja over the midwicket rope for the first six of the match.

Jadeja was a popular target for the Australian, who sent him for half a dozen more in the 82nd over, having pulled the part-time off-spin of Murali Vijay to the leg-side for four a few overs earlier.

In between the sparse boundaries Maxwell sprinted hard for singles, doubled back for twos and consistently rotated the strike as the hosts struggled to find a way to stop the flow of runs with inspirational general Virat Kohli off the field nursing a shoulder injury.

In total he hit a brace of maximums and a quintet of fours in the 113 balls he faced and 194 minutes in the middle, comfortably the longest time he’s spent at the cease for his country.

While his explosive, expansive batting style often makes Maxwell a one-man show in coloured clothing, today in the whites he was part of powerful double-act with skipper Steve Smith.

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The pair put on an unbeaten 159, the highest fifth-wicket partnership for Australia in India, eclipsing the previous best of 145 by Michael Clarke and Matthew Wade in Hyderabad four years ago.

It’s also the highest partnership of the series and only the second time two batsmen have teamed up and scored more than 100 together.

So far, it’s been a chanceless innings by Maxwell and the highest by an Australia No.6 since Smith’s 100 against South Africa in Centurion in February, 2014, a worrying statistic for the No.2 Test team in the world.

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Maxwell now has the chance to make fourth-drop his own with a maiden Test century on Friday, and he needs only to look at his skipper at the other end for inspiration.

“He played beautifully, stuck to his game plan the whole time, played nice and straight and hit the loose ball,” Smith told Star Sports about Maxwell’s knock.

“That’s all you need to do, it’s pretty simple and he batted like he has been in the nets.

“He’s been hitting the ball really well so he got an opportunity and he’s making the most of it.”