You know its a special knock when one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar claims it as the best he’s ever seen. That was the distinction Glenn Maxwell earned as he scored a scintillating 201* against Afghanistan to inspire a three-wicket win in Mumbai.
“From Max pressure to Max performance! This has been the best ODI knock I’ve seen in my life,” Tendulkar would write on his Twitter.
Coming in to bat at six and with Australia seven down for 91, Maxwell pushed Australia to chase 292 – their biggest-ever chase in World Cup history and the highest-ever in ODIs at the Wankhede Stadium.
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It was only a third time that a batter scored a triple hundred in the tournament after Martin Guptill and Chris Gayle – both of whom did so in the 2015 edition of the tournament.
So good was the innings from Maxwell that amidst England’s horror defence of the title, even all-rounder Ben Stokes didn’t shy away from singing praises of the Aussie batter. “My goodness Maxi,” he’d write with three shock face emojis to follow.
But he wasn’t the only English cricketer praising Maxwell. “One of the greatest individual performances on a cricket field. One of the greatest innings one would ever see. A great lesson to Never Give Up. Take a bow Glenn Maxwell . That was quite incredible,” wrote former England captain Michael Vaughan.
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Former India all-rounder and the 2011 player of the tournament Yuvraj Singh also took to Twitter to applaud the swashbuckling batter, “Innings of a lifetime! Hats off”.
His former India teammate, Mohammed Kaif, who was at the Wankhede posted a video alongside Harbhajan Singh. “Unbelievable!” the latter would say on the innings. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kaif would add.
With this win, Australia are now into the semifinals as the third team after India and South Africa.