Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh hailed Glenn Maxwell’s double century against Afghanistan at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Tuesday. Singh reckons Maxwell will shock himself if he plays a better knock than this.
Maxwell scored a majestic knock of 201 runs off just 128 balls with the help of 21 fours and 10 sixes. The right-hander broke a plethora of records as he scored the highest individual score for Australia in ODIs and the highest-ever score overall in a run-chase.
In fact, Australia was under the pump at 91-7 but Maxwell played a knock for the ages against Afghanistan. The talisman batted at his absolute best as he added 202 runs with Pat Cummins, who played a key role in staying at the other end.
Furthermore, Australia was able to chase down their highest run-chase in World Cup history. Maxwell had the rub of the green on his side as he was dropped by Mujeeb ur Rahman when he was only on 33 runs and the all-rounder made Afghanistan pay for that mistake.
Speaking to Star Sports, Harbhajan Singh said, “The world will remember him for this knock. This has become the best knock of his life. He will shock himself if he plays a better knock than this. The job he has done today, it probably happens once in 100 years.”
The Turbanator compared Maxwell’s blistering knock with Kapil Dev’s innings of 175 runs against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup.
“You spoke about Kapil paaji (Dev), that 175-run knock which we haven’t seen, but we can feel that now because India were in a similar situation, and what a knock Kapil paaji would have played there.”
Maxwell battled through multiple cramps and he was seen in a lot of pain, especially towards the end. Thus, Harbhajan rated Maxwell’s knock as better than Kapil Dev’s heroics.
“I would say this is an even better knock than that because he got injured. He couldn’t run but kept hitting fours and sixes, and this knock came while chasing. That (Kapil Dev’s) knock came while setting a target. There shouldn’t be any comparison but I will just want to salute him.”
“What he has done is extremely praiseworthy. I have played cricket for approximately 20-25 years. I have not seen anything like this in my playing days. When Glenn Maxwell’s kids will have their kids, they will also talk about their grandfather’s knock where he won Australia the game when they were losing.”
The Aussies will play their last league stage match against Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday.
