As per Michael Clarke’s observation, Glenn Maxwell’s place in the team is still shaky

In the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Ranchi, Glenn Maxwell was included as a replacement and he responded with a brilliant hundred. But former Australia skipper Michael Clarke feels that performance is just not enough to cement a place for him in the Test side.

Clarke supported his observation with a practical reason as he said that if Australia decide to go into the fourth Test with a fifth specialist bowler and the skipper continues to reject Maxwell’s off-spin bowling capability then Maxwell’s spot could be high shaky.

Speaking in a live chat on his Facebook page, Clarke said, ”Will they want the fourth fast-bowling option as the allrounder, or will they stay with Glenn Maxwell? Especially if Steve Smith is not bowling Maxi, then he becomes a legitimate batsman so he’s got to be making a lot of runs to stay in the team. Conditions will dictate which way they go when they get back to Australia.”

He further added that the Steve Smith led teams likes to have an allrounder in the XI so there is a chance they will opt for three quicks at Dharamsala. “And I think this current Australian team likes to have an allrounder so I think when they get back from India (to Australia), I think they’ll go back to three fast bowlers, an allrounder at No.6 with the one spinner in Nathan Lyon,” Clarke said.

But he was positive about the “Big Show’s” chances saying that time will tell. If Maxwell’s bat keeps doing the talking, the side will have to keep playing him and Clarke thinks Maxwell was brilliant the other day. He liked the way he batted, and the discipline he showed at the beginning of his innings.

“If he can continue to do that for his first 20 runs (in all formats) I think he’s going to turn out to be an amazing player”, Clarke said before signing off.

India and Australia will resume their rivalry to determine the winner of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Dharamsala’s beautiful HPCA Stadium on Saturday.