Glenn Maxwell hit 21 fours and 10 sixes in his innings of 201 runs (Photo: PTI)
‘Three Idiots’ is a Bollywood film. The main character of this film is Rancho. And, there is a line from a song in it – ‘Jab life ho out of control, to whistle baja ke bol – All is well.’ It was as if the lifeline of the Australian team was stuck against Afghanistan and in those stuck circumstances, the kind of inning played by Kangaroo team’s ‘Rancho’ i.e. Glenn Maxwell, that song of the film also fits perfectly on that situation. It was not easy to reach 292 runs from 91 runs for 7 wickets without losing any more wickets. But, where Maxwell is there all is well. And the same was seen on the evening of 7th November at Mumbai’s Wankhede ground, after which the big cricket legends including Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram were seen saying the same thing – Never seen anything like this.
Afghanistan had made complete preparations to defeat Australia. No stone was left unturned in that. Everyone had almost accepted that Afghanistan’s victory was now certain. But Maxwell alone overshadowed this thinking of the times. He played such a game that it got recorded in the pages of history. Not only did he score a double century in the World Cup, but the manner in which his script was written and the circumstances in which it was written were even better. With his innings, Maxwell once again presented to the world an example of Australia’s spirit of not giving up till the last ball. And, perhaps this was the reason why after the match he thought it best to praise Maxwell by simply saying – One Man Army.
Where Maxwell is there ‘all is well’
Australia had got the target of 292 runs from Afghanistan. While chasing this target, Maxwell alone scored unbeaten 201 runs, which included 21 fours and 10 sixes. Now in this respect his innings is absolutely like ‘One Man Army’ or ‘One Man Show’. But, what the biggest stalwarts of the cricket world think about this is even more amazing.
Be it Sachin or Akram – never seen anything like this…!
Some have 19 years of experience in playing cricket, some have 24 years of experience. All of them are still associated with cricket on some pretext or the other. But when it came to expressing their opinion on Maxwell’s innings, everyone just said – we have never seen anything like this before.
The great Sachin Tendulkar, who played cricket for 24 years, wrote on Maxwell’s innings, the more pressure, the stronger the innings. I have never seen a better ODI innings than this in my life.
A wonderful knock by @IZadran18 to 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 pic.twitter.com/M1CBulAgKw
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 7, 2023
Wasim Akram sitting in Pakistan also said something similar after watching Maxwell’s game. He said that I played cricket for 19 years, even after that I am still connected. But, I have not seen a better inning than this in ODI which Maxwell played. Apart from these, Simon Doull, Harsha Bhogle were also among those greats associated with cricket who said the same thing as Sachin and Akram said after watching Maxwell’s innings played against Afghanistan.
It’s not about the double century, it’s about its impact and circumstances.
It is clear that here it is not just about the double century. Because, double centuries have already been scored in the history of ODI cricket. Here we talk about the impact of that inning, which was played in those conditions when Australia’s chances of winning the match were only 6 percent. Maxwell’s unbeaten inning of 201 runs had converted that 6 percent chance of victory into 100 percent. Now if it is so amazing then people will definitely say – there is nothing better than this.
