Glenn Maxwell battled severe cramps to play one of the greatest ODI innings of all time, taking Australia home against Afghanistan single-handedly at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai today (November 7).
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Australia suffered a staggering collapse to start their run-chase of 292 against Afghanistan in Mumbai. Within the first ten overs, they lost four wickets. By the 20th, they had lost seven.
Maxwell came in to bat at No.6 with the score reading 49-4. As wickets kept tumbling around him, Maxwell kept going from one end, taking on one Afghan spinner after the other. He reached his first fifty in 51 balls. Realizing that he was not going to get much support from the other end after the fall of the seventh wicket, with the score on 91, Maxwell then took things into his own hands.
Two consecutive sixes came off Noor Ahmad in the 29th over. A four and a six off successive balls came off Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the 32nd. In the blink of an eye, Maxwell had gone from 50 to 100 in the space of 25 balls, notching up his hundred in just 76 deliveries.
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Soon after reaching his hundred, though, Maxwell was struck by cramps. By the 37th over, he was hobbling across for runs. With every passing ball and over, he was in more and more pain. After a while, Pat Cummins and Maxwell stopped rotating the strike with the former focusing on playing balls out and the latter on butchering them while wincing in pain after every shot.
On the second ball of the 41st over, Maxwell fell flat on his back after completing a run. The physios came running out as he needed extended medical support. It looked like he might have to retire hurt as Adam Zampa waited in the wings to come out. However, Maxwell got up and carried on.
Barely being able to move his feet to get into good positions to play shots, Maxwell somehow managed to hit another five fours and five sixes to take Australia over the line, become the first double centurion in ODIs in a run-chase.
The defeat has hurt Afghanistan’s semi-final qualification chances significantly, with Australia’s place in the semi-finals now confirmed. Maxwell has etched his name into cricketing folklore.
