“Nice to inspire people….body took long to recover”: Maxwell on his double ton against Afghanistan in ODI World Cup

Australia will be taking on Afghanistan in their ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights clash at Kingstown on Sunday. Australia are at the top of Group 1 in Super Eights with their win over Bangladesh, while Afghanistan are at the third place, having lost their only game to India.

The last clash between these two sides at an ICC tournament, in the 50-over World Cup in India last year was one of its kind contest. In the match held at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, Afghanistan elected to bat first and a century from Ibrahim Zadran took them to 291/5 in their 50 overs.

During their run-chase, Australia lost quick wickets and looked down and out at 91/7, but then Maxwell and skipper Pat Cummins put on a double-century partnership that showed why Australia is a multi-time world champion side.

Maxwell, battling back pain, cramps, heat, smashed Afghanistan bowlers around on one functioning leg and Cummins held the other end steady. Maxwell finished the game with a six, ending at 201* in 128 balls, with 21 fours and 10 sixes, finishing the game majorly by himself with 19 balls left. This resilient knock from Maxwell was hailed by the cricketing fraternity and quickly placed among the greatest knocks ever in cricket.

Speaking to the reporters ahead of the game, Maxwell said, “They have not had a lot else to talk about in the last few months. I do find a lot of people will come up and that innings during the World Cup, which is nice. It is nice to have been able to touch and affect so many people and hopefully inspire people to want to play the game.”

“But I have been able to park it and move on. Probably because it gave me so much pain – my body took so long to recover. I try not to think about it too much. Because that is the first thing I think about it, I associate it with pain,” he added.

On playing T20I cricket, Maxwell said that he enjoys playing the format when it is tough. He also opened up on his 65-run partnership with skipper Mitchell Marsh against England in this T20 WC, after Australia were reduced to 74/2 with openers David Warner and Travis Head dismissed after a fiery start.

“I probably enjoy it when it is a bit tough. I think your skill can shine through on those tougher wickets. It is not as easy as swinging through the line all the time. You have got to be smart and pretty adaptive to what is in front of you. That felt like the challenge of that England game where me and Mitch had to plan our way through and set it up for the back end,” he elaborated. It was probably different to an extent where the openers went so well and got off to such a good start.”

“I think that sort of batting is so valuable in these conditions. The difference is sometimes between 110 and 135 runs in some of those kinds of conditions. I feel like that is where I can have my biggest impact,” he added.

Squads:

Australia Squad: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Ashton Agar

Afghanistan Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Karim Janat, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Ishaq, Nangeyalia Kharote.

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