ICC World Cup 2023: Australia’s all-rounder Glenn Maxwell single-handedly took his team to the semi-finals as he crushed Afghanistan with an unbeaten 201. Australia was in a dire position at 91/7 and Afghanistan almost took the game home when the Big Show arrived on the crease and he was just unstoppable. Despite injuries, Glenn Maxwell kept slamming boundaries and finally took his team to victory. Glenn Maxwell’s terrific innings attracted praise from Indian legends as Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar shared posts for the batter.

“Only you could do this, freak @gmaxi_32” Virat Kohli said in the Instagram story.

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Glenn Maxwell celebrating his double century

“A wonderful knock by @IZadran18to put Afghanistan in a good position. They started well in the 2nd half and played good cricket for 70 overs but the last 25 overs from @Gmaxi_32 was more than enough to change their fortune. From Max pressure to Max performance! This has been the best ODI knock I’ve seen in my life. #AUSvAFG,” Sachin posted from his X handle.

Coming back to the ‘Big Show,’ Glenn Maxwell has been great in the ICC World Cup so far. He missed the last match against England due to injury, but what a way to come back. Earlier, he slammed the fastest 100 of the World Cup history as he smashed a ton in just 40 balls.

“We talked about coming off, trying to get some work into my back, and trying to loosen up my legs a little bit. Jonesy (Nick Jones) the physio said it would be really hard for me to come back down the stairs after that. We just came up with ‘let’s stay at the same end’ for as long as you can until you feel like you can walk to the other end or if there’s an easy single here and there,” Glenn Maxwell told cricket.com.au.

“It was a strange one because I was cramping in one of my toes, which was going up the front of my shin. Then as I set off to try and get down the other end, I cramped in my calf as well. I was cramping both sides of my lower leg, and as I went ‘Oh no, I’m cramping’ I cramped in my left hamstring at the same time. I was like, I’ve got both legs cramping, and then I had a back spasm when I hit the ground,” the all-rounder said.

New Zealand, Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight for last semi-finals spot

With this victory, Australia became the third team to qualify for the semi-finals and Afghanistan’s road to the top 4 became more difficult. New Zealand, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are the three teams in the race for the fourth spot on the points table and the three teams will play their final league stage matches in the upcoming days. New Zealand seems to have an advantage over the other three as they have a better Net Run Rate (NRR).

 

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Updated: 08 Nov 2023, 03:04 PM IST



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