Australia 293 for 7 (Maxwell 201*, Rashid 2-44) beat Afghanistan 291 for 5 (Ibrahim 129*, Rashid 35*, Hazlewood 2-39) by three wickets
After Ibrahim Zadran became Afghanistan’s first-ever centurion in World Cups, Naveen-ul-Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai shredded Australia’s top order as they threatened to script a famous win at the Wankhede. But Maxwell intervened with a sensational 201 not out, 179 of which were scored in an unbroken 202-run partnership with his captain Pat Cummins, to flip the script. The result confirmed Australia’s place in the final four, along with hosts India and South Africa, and left Afghanistan heart-broken.
The chase wasn’t the only thing that got tighter and tighter towards the end. Maxwell, having fielded the 50 overs in the Mumbai heat, began cramping up badly. It was his legs. They’d just stopped working. He looked in agonising pain in the 41st over, prompting the next batter, the No. 10, Adam Zampa to wait by the boundary-line while the physio patched him up to keep him going.
And go he did. Batting without ever moving his feet, Maxwell kept clobbering sixes until he brought home the Australian miracle. Two-hundred and one unbeatean runs in just 128 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes. It was one of the all-time great ODI innings.
Maxwell had walked in to face Omarzai’s hat-trick ball in the ninth over, when Australia were 49 for 4 in pursuit of 292. He was then involved in a mix-up, which cost Australia the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne for 14. When Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Starc fell soon after, leaving Australia at 91 for 7, the game looked done. Except it wasn’t. Maxwell soldiered on and his captain Pat Cummins stuck to him limpet-like in a double-century partnership to which he contributed only 12 off 68.
When 21 runs were needed off 24 balls for Australia’s win and Maxwell’s double-hundred, he went 6,6,4,6 against Mujeeb Ur Rahman to provide the double coup de grâce.
Mujeeb could’ve cut Maxwell’s innings short on 33 had he not dropped a sitter at short fine. Maxwell then went about doing Maxwell things. He walloped Noor Ahmad over midwicket. He smashed Mujeeb over his head and carted Mohammed Nabi over midwicket too. The reverse-sweep and other trick shots were also on display in Mumbai as he surged to a hundred off 76 balls. He then needed just 52 balls for his second hundred. At the other end, Cummins defended resolutely. That was all he needed to do.