In the line of Cricket, there is always that one batsman who becomes a hero after playing a terrific inning in a very crucial match. As a match finisher and power hitter, the name of Glenn Maxwell still reverberates as his mind-blowing double century (201*) against the roaring team of Afghanistan in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 set the tone for Australia to play the semi-final match. This stunning inning carries heavy importance because the Afghanistan campaign was in the best form of life, having defeated Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands in a row after shockingly defeating defending champions England by 69 runs.
If Glenn Maxwell, who plays in the lower middle order and holds a decent average of 34.04 in 135 innings, would not have played the best inning of his life, Australia could not win the sixth ODI World Cup. Here, we will talk about Glenn Maxwell’s stats, records, and highest score while playing against Afghanistan in ODI format.
One more Asian team, Afghanistan, have evolved consistently. Since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, the win percentage of this star-studded team, including the likes of IPL player Rashid Khan, has gradually spiked. In recent times, the team played 15 ODI matches and won 9 times, with 4 ODI series wins. The time is not far when Afghanistan will be counted among big teams like India, Australia, and New Zealand. However, there is a major hurdle in this path as Glenn Maxwell has accumulated stunning records against Afghanistan.
Australian star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has taken four innings to score 295 runs off 174 balls in white-ball cricket against Afghanistan in a 50-50 overs match. With a remarkable average of 147.5 and striking the ball at the rate of 169.5, it is a major task for the Afghanistani bowling attack to tackle Maxwell. Everyone was convinced that Afghanistan would expel probable winner Australia from the World Cup 2023 once the team was reduced to 91/7 while chasing a target of 292 runs, including early wickets of star batters Travis Head and David Warner. However, with 10 huge sixes and calculated risks, Glenn Maxwell single-handedly changed the outcome of the match with his memorable knock of unbeaten 201 runs off 128 balls despite having cramps during the inning. Despite doing a lot of things right, Afghanistan lost the most important match. Eight years before this inning, Glenn Maxwell batted with a strike rate of 225.6 against Afghanistan, hitting a half-century in that match. Below, you can check year-wise records of Glenn Maxwell against Afghanistan, a team that is growing consistently in the stage of international cricket.Â
Year | Innings | Runs | Balls | Outs | Avg | SR | HS | 50 | 100 | 4s | 6s | Dot % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2.0 | 33.3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.7 |
2015 | 1 | 88 | 39 | 1 | 88.0 | 225.6 | 88 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 28.2 |
2019 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | 400.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
2023 | 1 | 201 | 128 | 0 | – | 157.0 | 201 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 10 | 38.3 |
Total | 4 | 295 | 174 | 2 | 147.5 | 169.5 | 201 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 17 | 36.8 |
Afghanistan have traversed through a full circle, starting from beating England in the Cricket World Cup 2023 and then replicating the match-winning performance in ICC Champions Trophy, ending up knocking out England by 8 runs. Once again, fortunes and efforts are encouraging Afghanistan to continue the winning streak, but as history usually repeats itself, Australia is once again an opponent in a knock-out match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. It will be interesting to see how the competition between Glenn Maxwell and Afghanistan unfolds.