World Cup 2023: Maxwell's 'one leg' heroics drag Australia to stunning victory over Afghanistan
Australia vs India, Glenn Maxwell
Australia scripted an improbable three-wicketcomeback victory at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday (Nov 7) evening, riding on a brilliant double hundred by all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (201* off 128 balls). With backs against the wall, Maxwell, battling a cramped, dead leg rescued Australia when the team was reduced to 91 for 7 and a defeat stared in the face.
Maxwell had all the luck by his side as he was dropped twice, and survived a similar number of close LBW calls. On one of the DRS calls, Maxwell started trudging back to the pavilion before Hawkeye showed the ball was going over the stumps.
After receiving a few reprieves, Maxwell changed his approach and went for his well-known counter-punch brand of cricket which put the Afghan bowlers away from their gameplan.
While Maxwell pumped the boundaries, captain Pat Cummins played the ideal foil to him by keeping the scoreboard ticking and handing the strike to the "Big Show".
With 60-odd runs left to chase, Maxwell's cramp reached a tipping point, forcing the right-hand dasher to sacrifice the singles and only rely on boundaries to get over the line. From thereon till the victory shores, a brave Maxwell batted on one leg, battling excruciating pain but showing exemplary determination to get over the line.
The chase was off to a horror start when Travis Head nicked a beautiful outswinger from Naveen-ul-Haq to Ikram Alikhil behind the sticks. Naveen, who had taken a dig at the Australians before the match for refusing to play a bilateral series with the Afghanistan team, backed up his words with actions on the field.
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A returning Mitchell Marsh was trapped in front of the stumps by another seaming delivery from Naveen before Azmatullah set up David Warner and cleaned him up all quarters.
With innings in the doldrums, one expected Josh Inglis to steady the ship. However, the wicketkeeper batter perished on a golden duck while poking an outside off delivery, straight into the big mitts of first innings centurion Ibrahim Zadran at second slip.
Marnus Labuschagne, who looked good at the crease, had a fleeting blip in concentration as he reacted slow to a single and paid the ultimate price for it by giving away his wicket.
The win means that Australia have qualified for the knockouts after starting off the campaign with two consecutive defeats.
Afghanistan's defiant batting
Opting to bat first on a Wankhede track that traditionally supports pure stroke-making, Afghanistan stuck to their set plans.Openers Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz started off cautiously and ensured that the Australian pace battery didn't make early inroads.
Nearly every Afghanistan batter got starts but it was Zadran who converted it into a three-figure innings by carrying his bat right through. Zadran finished with a 143-ball 129-run knock with Rashid Khan providing the finishing touches with an 18-ball 35-run cameo.