Kohli ton helps India to 295

“Batting at five [in the ODI team] and realising the role I have to play and understanding that not every day I’m going to come in in the last 10, 15 overs and I have a licence to hit every ball for 4 or 6”. He’s got all the shots. “If you total everything at the end of the day, whatever pressure you’ve built up on the opposing batsmen, that gets released”. I don’t know whether they need to have a look at that or not.

“I thought he (Ashwin) bowled well in the last game but it was the only slot available for trade”.

“When your best fielders make mistakes you can’t blame it on fielding practice”, he said. Every one of Maxwell’s 96 runs was worth its weight in gold.

Maxwell has already shown a liking for the traditionally batting-friendly Manuka deck, blasting 136 off just 89 balls for the Prime Minister’s XI against England a year ago.

However, per Jesse Hogan in the Sydney Morning Herald, Lyon and Warner have been drafted into the squad for the final two one-dayers. “I think six an over is just the standard”.

The right-hander also admitted that this was one of his better knocks as he was able to stay till the very end. “In tight games like this, that’s one thing we have to avoid”. But tonight was a big step forward.

“We don’t have a seaming all-rounder, so let’s not even go to that topic”.

Maxwell revived Australia’s chase for a 296-run victory target with a spectacular knock and by the time he was dismissed after an 83-ball blitz the scores were tied at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“I was pretty calm at that stage”. James Faulkner, who was bowling 35th over of the match during the 3rd ODI at MCG, exchanged words with Virat Kohli.

Ravindra Jadeja bowls a decent over next up giving away just 5 runs.

“The wicket was quite slow so I had to try and hit the ball in front of square”, Maxwell said. Australia have been unbeaten in home ODIs since November 2014 with 16 consecutive wins now. It’s been three matches in which the batsmen have managed to post decent totals (308, 309 and 295) but in all the three games, the hosts have managed to chase down the totals without being pushed to the limits. It’s wonderful the way our team has been playing and the way we’ve been approaching those chase. “There were at least three boundaries we should have easily stopped”, he Dhoni, adding that the batsmen were working hard. “That’s what weve been brought up to do and we’ve been doing it really well this series”, he reflected.

MS Dhoni has had his captaincy questioned after the series loss but he believes simple errors are costing his team matches which will not change simply by replacing him as skipper.

“That’s what we’ve got to keep reiterating to him, that he’s capable of doing that”, added Warner, who also came in for criticism in the early part of his career due to his risk-taking style.

It has been reported that Maxwell hates the nick Big Show but he did seem intent on proving that he could play the long innings as well.

“The three matches were close games”. I felt I made good strides in England and had some good innings.

So, does he hope all this culminates in a permanent Test slot?