Earlier this week, Glenn Maxwell played an all-time great ODI knock to pull off a heist for Australia against Afghanistan in a World Cup 2023 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Chasing 292 to win, the Aussies were in dire straits at 91 for 7. Amid the pressure situation, Maxwell rose to the occasion, smashing 201* off 128 balls to take his team over the line with three wickets in hand and 19 deliveries to spare.
Maxwell got a few reprieves during the whirlwind knock and the most notable one was when Mujeeb Ur Rahman dropped a dolly at short fine leg, granting the dashing right-hander a lifeline at 33.
Days after the game, Maxwell explained why he has no sympathy for Mujeeb, who probably cost Afghanistan a World Cup semi-final spot with that drop catch.
"I thought it might cost him another 30 (runs) or so. I do not feel any sympathy for him because I feel like I have done that a lot of times, where I have (been) given chances and have not made the most of it," Maxwell said on the podcast 'Club Prairie Fire'.
"For the first time, in probably a long time, I have actually made the most of a chance and gone on with it. I have always said like, 'watch the opposition teams they have got hundreds after we have dropped a couple of chances'," he added.
"Batting is easy when you get a couple of chances isn't it - I sort of had that, a couple of things going my way," he continued.
Maxwell pulled off this heist despite battling cramps and back spasm. In fact, he stopped taking singles and doubles at one stage because of severe pain and started dealing in boundaries only to return with 21 fours and 10 sixes.
"The energy that they had in the first 15-20 overs was extraordinary and we have seen that a lot from them," Maxwell said.
"I have played (against) a lot of sub continental teams and one thing I have always found that if you could take the sting out of the game, not by runs but by basically being there, you play one or two shots in every couple of overs and you can see how flat it starts to get.
"They start to sort of a bit of bickering, a bit of infighting, finger-pointing, arms-raising, fielders not paying attention, it sort of starts to unravel a bit and I have been in teams where I have seen that happen as well," he stated.
During his herculean knock, Maxwell stitched an unbroken 202-run partnership with Pat Cummins in which the Australian captain contributed only 12 not out off 68 balls.
"This goes without saying but Pat is such a brilliant person to have as your leader. The way he treats his players as a whole, I think, that was all coming out in the last game.
"The way he dealt with me, the way he spoke with me was literally two guys having a beer at a pub, talking about a game they are watching on TV, laughing and joking," Maxwell said.
Glenn Maxwell’s extraordinary knock left the cricket fraternity in awe, with many legends calling it the greatest ODI innings of all time.
Sharing insights into how he launched a counter-attack on the Afghanistan bowlers, Maxwell said: "Once I get in, I feel if I set myself early enough in mind and sort of get a good idea about where I am trying to hit I feel my hands can get me out of trouble if the ball is not quite in the area. I do give myself a few options for different lengths."
"I will use Mujeeb as an example. Early on in my innings, all I did was play one reverse sweep to Noor Ahmed to make sure the deep backward point was a little bit finer. I know they would have to have the mid off up at some stage," he further remarked.
"With that, I have got a gap on either side of mid off, cover and over the top. As soon as I get (the ball) wide outside the off, I can use my hands to find gaps so I set myself up for every ball. I am setting up to hit in those boundary gaps and then adjusting with my hands as late as humanly possible to get to the other end," he concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)
