MUMBAI: Never count out Australia. They seldom throw in the towel and always find someone to dig them out of trouble. On Tuesday, it was Glenn Maxwell’s turn.
Australia were staring at defeat but Maxwell rode his luck, stuck to his brand of cricket and battled cramps in the later stages to secure their passage to World Cup semifinals at the Wankhede Stadium.
In the process, Maxwell played one of the greatest innings of the World Cup ever by scoring 201 off 128 balls which was laced with 21 fours and 10 sixes. His effort pulled Australia from dire straits and steered them to a three-wicket win over spirited Afghanistan.
He shared a 202-run unbeaten eight-wicket stand from 170 balls with Pat Cummins (12, 68b). The Aussie skipper was more than happy to anchor himself at the other end while Maxwell went about dismantling the Afghan bowlers, ball-by-ball, shot-by-shot. This was a vintage Maxwell innings. It was the kind of innings people throng to watch during the IPL. The additional stuff he added to it was a stamp of maturity. Till the 21st over, Afghanistan were all over Australia and had sent seven of their batters back in the pavilion.
But things started to tilt in Australia’s favour thereafter. The very next over bowled by Noor Ahmad first saw Maxwell get an LBW decision overturned through DRS and then got a reprieve when Mujeeb Ur Rahman spilled an easy chance at short fine-leg. Maxwell till then adopted a wait-and-watch approach and had just scored 34 from 40 balls.
He decided he had enough of it and took it upon himself to take down the Afghanistan bowlers. While he did go on the attack thereafter, it was controlled aggression backed by the belief that he could swing it back in Australia’s favour. While he continued to play his shots, he minimized the risk by cutting down on the high-risk ones like the reverse sweeps. It was only later in his innings that he brought out those shots. Most of his boundaries came in front of the wicket while he hammered all his sixes between long-on and mid-wicket region. As the 35-year-old progressed in his innings, luck seemed to be favouring him as well.
Mujeeb induced a thick edge but with no slip in place, it raced to the boundary. That further demoralised the Afghan players who started the defence of the 292-run target all pumped up but were seen with their hands on their hips, shoulders drooping.
Maxwell had to take multiple medical breaks to treat cramps and with him unable to run quick singles, he decided to swath them away, without any feet movement. It included a reverse sweep six off Naveen-ul-Haq towards the later stages of the match. His innings also set the template for how to play under lights at the Wankhede—see off the new ball, then see things going your way.
Earlier, Afghanistan bowlers had Australia batter talk to their tune. Naveen set the tone as Travis Head poked at an away going delivery before he had Mitchell Marsh caught leg-before. His new ball partner Azmatullah Omarzai landed his own twin blows with back-to-back dismissals in the ninth over. He first castled David Warner, who was looking to put the pressure back on the Afghans, and then had Josh Inglis caught at first slip.
Marnus Labuschagne got run out after a mixup with Maxwell and it left Australia struggling at 69-5. Rashid Khan then dismissed Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Starc to reduce them to 91-7 before Maxwell took it away. Riding on Ibrahim Zadran’s unbeaten 129 from 143 balls, Afghanistan had posted 291 which they thought would be a challenging total but it wasn’t to be.
They next face South Africa in Ahmedabad on Friday but their qualification for the knockouts depends on them winning and other results going their way as their net run rate (NRR) is inferior to those still in fray.
