Maxwell’s double hundred takes Australia to semi-finals
Sports Desk :
Glenn Maxwell hit an unbeaten 201 during Australia’s World Cup 2023 match against Afghanistan in Mumbai on Tuesday to register the highest individual score in a run chase.
The innings was also the first double century by an Australian batter and helped the side beat Afghanistan by three wickets to advance to the semifinals. With it, Maxwell became just the third batter to score a double ton in a World Cup.
Chasing 292, the five-time champions lost 7 wickets with 91 runs on the board.
Braving cramps, Maxwell farmed strike and slammed a double ton in 128 deliveries that included 10 sixes and 21 fours in a stunning counter-attack that caught Afghanistan napping.
His partnership with Pat Cummins for the eighth wicket worth 202 runs was the highest in ODIs.
Naveen-ul-Haq, Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan took two wickets each for the Afghans while another wicket fell with run-out.
Earlier, Afghanistan posted the challenging total of 291 runs losing just five wickets with the help of a 143-ball 129 from opener Ibrahim Zadran.
Opting to bat, Afghanistan got a quite good start with the bat of Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21) and Ibrahim Zadran. The pair added 38 runs in the first wicket.
After that, Ibrahim started building partnerships with other batters from the other side. He provided an 83-run stand with Rahmat Shah (30), a 52-run stand with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and a 58-run stormy stand with Rashid Khan (35).
Ibrahim along with Rashid added 58 runs together from just 28 deliveries to help Afghanistan to post the respectable total at the end.
Josh Hazlewood took the highest two wickets for Australia while each of Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa got one.