Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott admitted that Glenn Maxwell’s unbeaten double century was a “bitter pill to swallow”, as his team suffered a huge heartbreak in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
The Afghanistan team was in a great position to make a huge upset by defeating Australia and moving forward towards the CWC 2023 semis. However, destiny had a different story, as Mujeeb Ur Rahman dropped a sitter of Maxwell, which proved to be too costly for the Afghans.
Afghanistan had reduced Australia to 91/7 while defending a target of 292 runs in the 39th match of the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023 on November 7.
But Maxwell got two lifelines in the match- first DRS on an LBW appeal saved him, and then Mujeed dropped a simple catch. This was enough for the 'big show' as Maxwell is known. He single-handedly demolished Afghanistan's bowling, scoring 201* in 128 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes.
Australia won the match by 3 wickets and qualified for the semi-finals of CWC 2023.
Jonathan Trott said at the post-match press conference: “To give a person like Maxwell a chance, he’s going to run with it. When you get an opportunity against a side like Australia, you’ve got to grab it. They’re not going to just give it to you.”
Praising Maxwell, the Afghanistan coach said: “Full credit to him, the way that he played to get a double hundred is phenomenal. He deserved to win the game; he got a double hundred…Sometimes you’ve got to take a cap off to a person the way that he played, but he shouldn’t have been allowed to play like that. We should have had him out earlier.”
Afghanistan will next face South Africa on November 10, and if they beat them, they will then hope other results go their way for them to qualify for the semi-finals.
Trott said, “We lost the New Zealand game, came ba,ck and won the next game. We lost the India game very heavily but came back and beat England. There’s no time to muck around, we’ve got to pick ourselves up and learn from the experience. But it’s a bitter pill to swallow. It would be nice sitting here with 10 points. But hopefully that’s after the South Africa game.”
India, South Africa, and Australia have already qualified for the semifinals of the ongoing World Cup 2023. Out of the remaining teams, New Zealand and Pakistan have the best chances in the race for the one remaining spot.
(With PTI/IANS Inputs)
