Glenn Maxwell produced one of the most astonishing one-day innings of all time to rescue Australia from what appeared to be certain defeat against Afghanistan and steer them to victory by three wickets in Mumbai.
When Mitchell Starc was dismissed to reduce Australia to 91 for seven their cause seemed hopeless chasing the very competitive target of 292. But Maxwell, helped by a dropped catch and careless fielding, went on a rampage to hit 201 not out from only 128 balls – including 10 sixes – on his return from a freak golfing accident that left him concussed last week.
He was ably assisted by his captain, Pat Cummins, with whom he shared an unbeaten eighth-wicket partnership worth 202. They now face South Africa in the semi-finals next week.
Maxwell survived a simple dropped catch and successfully overturned an umpire’s call of lbw in the 22nd over but seemed to take the pair of near misses as a sign to throw caution to the wind.
“I was very lucky and I suppose just made the most of that,” he said. “[The lbw review] was probably the kickstarter I needed to tell myself: ‘I need to start playing some shots and be a bit more proactive.’”
Shortly after bringing up his second century of the tournament in the 33rd over, Maxwell began battling a back problem that significantly hampered his ability to run. But the Afghan attack, which had dismissed every other specialist batter for under 25 runs apiece, had no answers as “The Big Show” lived up to his billing – even on one leg.
In the 47th over, Maxwell belted his eighth six to eclipse Shane Watson’s unbeaten 184 from 2011 as the best individual one-day international innings by any Australian man in history.
By hitting his 10th six over deep midwicket Maxwell, who had hit the fastest World Cup century – off 40 balls – against the Netherlands earlier in the tournament, sealed the unlikeliest of wins with 19 balls to spare.
After his epic innings, Maxwell said: “I feel shocking! It was obviously quite hot when I was fielding and I haven’t done a lot of high-intensity fielding in the heat but it got hold of me today. Luckily, I was able to stick it out to the end.”
Australia had found themselves up against it to confirm a semi-final spot after Ibrahim Zadran’s unbeaten century helped Afghanistan post 291 for five. While a place in the knockout stage has appeared probable since the midpoint of the tournament, Australia had the chance to lock it in and cap their remarkable resurgence. But Afghanistan’s biggest total of the tournament put them in a strong position after Zadran (129 not out off 143 balls) partnered with Rashid Khan (35 not out from 18 balls) late to race to a big score.
After losing the toss on Tuesday (AEDT) the Australians found wickets hard to come by on a deck that has been unkind to the bowlers so far this tournament. Maxwell picked up the important wicket of Rahmat Shah during a good spell.
The spinner Adam Zampa (one for 58) could not reprise the trickery in the middle overs that has been vital to Australia’s five-game winning sequence. But by the same token, the World Cup overachievers Afghanistan were initially reluctant to attack the game as they fought to keep their own semi-final hopes alive.
Apart from during a cameo by Azmatullah Omarzai (22 runs off 18 balls), the Afghanistan innings was a conservative one until late as Zadran laid a platform. The 21‑year‑old became the first Afghan to record a World Cup century when he hit Josh Hazlewood to cover in the 44th over, though he was almost run out as he snuck his single in.
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Zadran knocked things up a notch after he registered his hundred, assisted by Rashid in a 58-run partnership across the final four and a half overs. The pair combined for eight boundaries in the final four overs as Australia rued an umpire review that determined Marcus Stoinis had not caught Rashid in the deep on 18 as he had hoped. Stoinis thought he had made a great catch to dismiss Rashid but the TV umpire disagreed.
Returning from the concussion he sustained falling off a golf cart, Maxwell’s part-time spin (one for 55) was important and dispatched Shah, who had built an 83-run partnership with Zadran. In the 12 overs after that wicket, Afghanistan hit only three boundaries and two of those came in the same Zampa over. Their run‑rate teetered below five heading into the final 10 overs despite having seven wickets in hand and they did not hit a six until the 38th over.
The meek approach looked set to come back and haunt Afghanistan when Mitchell Starc (1-70) bowled captain Hashmatullah Shahidi to break his slow-and-steady partnership with Zadran in the 38th over.
Omarzai (22 runs off 18 balls) threatened to speed the innings along, hitting the first two sixes of the afternoon, but was caught in the deep at long off to finally give Zampa his first scalp.
However, Rashid and Zadran picked where Omarzai left off.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report