Finance
Glenn Maxwell played one of the greatest one-day innings, hitting a 128-ball 201 not out to help Australia pull a three-wicket victory from the jaws of defeat against Afghanistan in Match 39, securing his team a semifinal spot in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.
After being reduced to 91/7 in the 19th over, Australia seemed to be heading for an ugly defeat while chasing Afghanistan’s score of 291/5, which featured Ibrahim Zadran’s first World Cup century (129 not off 143 balls) and Rashid Khan’s breezy 18-ball 35.
However, Maxwell and skipper Pat Cummins put up 202 runs off 170 balls for the eighth wicket, with Maxwell scoring 179 of those runs and Cummins remained undefeated with 12 off 68 balls.
Maxwell showcased brilliant batting skills as Australia were reduced to 91/7, and he was involved in a run-out with Marnus Labuschagne. Maxwell blasted an incredible 22 runs off four deliveries in the 47th over, hardly able to move inside the crease, with Australia needing 21 runs off the last four overs.
Their 202-run unfinished partnership was Australia’s record for the eighth wicket, surpassing the 119-run stand between Paul Reiffel and Shane Warne against South Africa in 1993-94 by a large margin. It’s also only the third double-century duo in World Cup history, and the first in India.
In the end, Maxwell hit an unbeaten 201 off 128 deliveries, hitting 21 boundaries and 10 maximums in an incredible inning that took Australia to 12 points from eight matches and confirmed their place in the semifinals as the third-placed team.
Afghanistan was to blame because they lost two Maxwell receptions and had an LBW opportunity go against them.
Maxwell, who survived a lbw chance on review and dropped chances at 27 and 33 (by Mujeeb Ur Rahman), was also fortunate to see a few edges land in gaps as he hit a superb century, guiding Australia to an unlikely victory.
He and skipper Pat Cummins put on 100 runs for the 8th wicket Afghanistan had themselves to blame as they dropped two catches of Maxwell and also had an LBW opportunity going against them.
Maxwell smashed 16 runs off Azmatullah, hitting two excellent fours and a brilliant six, with Australia needing 47 off 42 balls. He then hit a six against Naveen-ul-Haq in the next over to reduce the total to 26 off 30 balls.
Australia appeared to be doomed from the start, when Afghanistan scored four points on the first power play.
Travis Head (0), who scored a century in his World Cup debut after recovering from an injury, Mitchell Marsh, who hit an 11-ball 24, and David Warner (14) and Josh Inglis (0) all fell in quick succession as Naveen-ul-Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai each claimed two wickets — the latter having two off two — as they took full advantage of the seaming conditions.
Australia ended the first powerplay at 52/4 and was in serious trouble.
In the 15th over, Marnus Labuschagne’s situation worsened as he got run out in a terrible mix-up with Maxwell. Maxwell had nudged the ball to midwicket and went for a needless single, resulting in Australia’s reduction to 69/5.
Maxwell struck Mujeeb Ur Rahman for back-to-back fours in the 16th over and Stoinis swept a fuller delivery from Rashid Khan on his pads for a boundary before the Afghan spinner had his revenge. Stoinis went for a reverse sweep off a googly pitched on length, which spun past the bat and gloves to hit the front pad in line with the middle stump. Stoinis reviewed it but ultra-edge showed there was no bat or glove involved while the ball-tracker showed the delivery, which pitched outside off, would have gone on to hit the middle stump. Australia were reduced to 87/6 and the writing was clearly on the wall.
Maxwell, who hoicked Mohammed Nabi for a four and a six after hitting back-to-back fours a couple of overs before, continued to flourish, after completing his fifty off 51 deliveries, he raced to the next fifty in just 25 balls, with three fours and three sixes as he completed his hundred in 76 balls. Australia scored 200 runs in the 35th over and were looking on way to victory.
He gave Mujeeb Ur Rehman the same treatment in the 32nd over, smashing the bowler flat over his head for four and followed it up with a straight six on the next ball. As Australia crossed the 150-run mark, Maxwell celebrated it by hammering Mujeeb Ur Rehman for beautiful sixes off successive deliveries in the 29th over, gaining a stronghold on the match.
Earlier, Zadran held the Afghanistan innings together, scoring a 143-ball 129 as he remained unbeaten from start to finish, helping his team post a challenging 291/5 in their 50 overs.
Zadran kept Afghanistan’s hopes alive as he raised three half-century partnerships in all — adding 83 for the second wicket with Rahmat Shah (30), 52 for the third wicket with Hashmatullah Shahidi (28) and a brilliant unfinished partnership of 58 runs for the sixth wicket with Rashid Khan (35 not out off 18) as they blasted 75 runs off the last six overs.
This was Zadran’s fifth century in ODIs in his 27th match but the first triple-figure score for his country in the World Cup.
However, Afghanistan found the going slow at the start with the Australian bowlers not giving them a lot of chances, managing only 46/1 in Power-play1. At the halfway mark (25th over), Afghanistan were 122/2, scoring at the rate of 4.88 per over. But they blasted 96 runs for the loss of two wickets in the last 10 overs to reach a defendable score.
After Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21) departed early despite getting a start, Zadran and Rahmat Shah repaired the innings with 83 off 100 balls with Zadran completing his fifty off 62 deliveries, hitting six boundaries. They mostly operated in singles, hitting the occasional boundary against a good bowling attack.
Zadran and Shah took the score past 100 runs before Glenn Maxwell, speared in a ball at the leg stump as Rahmat charged down the wicket, the Afghan batter failing to get enough bat and offering an easy catch to Hazlewood at long-on.
He continued to hold the fort, adding 52 runs for the third wicket with Shahidi before the skipper became the third Afghanistan batter to fail to capitalise on a start and got out in the twenties.
Zadran went on to complete his century off 131 deliveries, hitting seven boundaries, as he continued to anchor the Afghanistan innings, surviving a run-out opportunity going for his 100th run. They lost Azmatullah Omarzai (22 off 18) and Mohammad Nabi (12 off 10) in quick succession before Rashid Khan joined Zadran and changed the complexion of the match.
After completing his century, Zadran blasted his first six off Adam Zampa, over mid-wicket, and then flipped Starc for a massive one over deep mid-wicket. Rashid Khan delivered a few ferocious smashes near the end of the innings, diving down on his knees to club Maxwell over midwicket for a maximum and hitting the same bowler for a boundary moving down the track to a wide one.
In just 28 deliveries, they added 58 runs for the unfinished sixth wicket. In the final over, Rashid smashed Mitchell Starc for two enormous sixes, bending low to whip it over deep square for the greatest shot off the innings in the penultimate ball of the innings as Afghanistan scored 75 runs off the last six overs.
But in the end, that proved insufficient as dropped catches.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 291/5 in 50 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 129 not out; Rashid Khan 35 not out; Rahmat Shah 30; Josh Hazlewood 2-39) beat Australia 293/7 in 46.5 overs (Glenn Maxwell 201 not out; Rashid Khan 2-44, Naveen-ul-Haq 2-47, Azmatullah Omarzai 2-52) by three wickets.
Source:IANS
