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Australia's Glenn Maxwell smashed a double century to beat Afghanistan by three wickets in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Maxwell also became the first batter in ODI history to score 200 in the second innings. The win also ensured that the five-time champions completed qualification to the semi-finals of the World Cup.
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Batting first, Afghanistan produced an incredible batting effort to score a total of 291 runs in the first innings. The star of this batting effort was Ibrahim Zadran, who scored a resilient 129 in 143 balls. Zadran was also supported by a late cameo by Rashid Khan who hit a crucial 35 in 18 balls to post a competitive total.
The Afghans continued this momentum in the second innings as well and reduced Australia to 49-4. Here came Glenn Maxwell who started off cautiously and was also dropped early before surviving an LBW appeal. When the scorecard said 97-7, things seemed done and dusted for the Aussies.
But from this point forward, Maxwell and Pat Cummins stitched up a historic 202-run partnership to finish off the game. Maxwell smashed 201 in 128 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes at a strike rate of 157.03 to create history.
