Glenn Maxwell’s record-breaking double-century that helped Australia fight back to beat Afghanistan and seal a place in the World Cup semi-finals has been described as the “greatest ODI innings ever”.
The three-time champions, targeting 292 for victory, slumped to 91 for seven before turning things around thanks to Maxwell’s breathtaking unbeaten 201, which came off 128 balls and included 21 fours and 10 sixes.
And his innings was made all the more extraordinary because he spent a large portion of it in excruciating pain and unable to move due to cramp.
“Just ridiculous!” Australian captain Pat Cummins told Sky Sports.
“It’s got to be the greatest ODI innings that’s ever happened, it’s one of those days where you just go, ‘When that happened, I was here in the stadium’.”
It was with the last of his 10 sixes that the 35-year-old all-rounder wrapped up the win with 19 deliveries to go.
It was the highest-ever score by an Australian in a one-day international, as the team achieved the highest successful ODI run chase at the Wankhede Stadium.
The ground had seen history made earlier with Afghanistan recording their maiden World Cup century, Ibrahim Zadran posting an unbeaten 112.
He was treated for cramp and back trouble
Australia’s reply started badly with Travis Head being dismissed for a duck by Naveen-ul-Haq with only four runs on the board.
And the wickets continued to go as Pat Cummins’ men stumbled to 49 for four after Azmatullah Omarzai took the scalps of David Warner and Josh Inglis in consecutive balls.
When Mitchell Starc was ousted – despite questions over whether the ball had hit his bat – via a superb catch from wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil to leave Australia at 91 for seven in the 19th over, Afghanistan looked to be closing in on a famous victory.
But Maxwell then took centre stage with a stunning display to push Australia to victory.
Having been dropped and survived an lbw appeal on review, he went on to register boundary after boundary, even though at times he looked to be in considerable discomfort and struggling to run.
Maxwell’s innings has been described as ‘the best ever’
Able to continue after receiving treatment on the field, he subsequently completed his double-century – and Australia’s win – in fitting fashion by crashing yet another maximum that took his partnership with Cummins (12) to 202.
Third-placed Australia advance into the last four, joining India and South Africa, ahead of finishing their group matches by playing Bangladesh in Pune on Saturday.
Afghanistan remain sixth, with one of them, New Zealand or Pakistan set to make the semi-finals – they face South Africa in Ahmedabad on Friday.
