Maxwell not the only reason for Afghan motivation as they seek to make the final four of the Champions Trophy.
Maxwell World Cup double is history for Afghanistan as they prepare to face Australia with a semi-final place at stake.
In the final ODI between Afghanistan and Australia, Glenn Maxwell secured an incredible chase in Mumbai with what may have been the finest innings the format has ever seen, a memorable double century.
They have maintained that there is no additional attention just on Maxwell ahead of a winner-take-all match in Lahore with a semi-final position on the line, despite the fact that it destroyed a match that looked like an inevitable Afghanistan victory when Australia was 91 for 7 chasing 292.
The fact that Afghanistan knows they can defeat Australia—they won by 21 runs at the T20 World Cup last year, despite Maxwell’s 59 off 41 balls—is a major factor in that. The game’s turning point was when he was dismissed to Gulbadin Naib.
“You think we will come only to play with Maxwell?” Hashmatullah Shahidi said when asked about the 2023 World Cup meeting. “We have planning for all Australian team. I know that he played really well in 2023 World Cup, but that’s part of the history.
“After that, we beat them in [the] T20 World Cup. We think about all [the] opposition team, we are not coming to the ground to plan on [an] individual player. We will try our best to come with the planning and we are not playing only Maxwell – we are playing Australia.”
If Afghanistan wins Friday, they would advance to the ICC competition semi-final for the second time in a row, but they are adamant that their thoughts won’t stray that far. “We will try to play positive game – just like we defeated England today, we hope to beat Australia as well,” Shahidi stated. “We won’t put that pressure on ourselves by thinking too much about the semi-final qualification.”
Less than 48 hours have passed since Afghanistan defeated England by eight runs, led by Ibrahim Zadran’s outstanding 177. Having scored 129 in that Mumbai encounter and 51 off 48 balls in the T20 World Cup victory in St. Vincent, he also has pleasant recollections of playing against Australia.
“It’s never easy for a player to return from injury and make such a strong comeback in a high-stakes match,” Shahidi said. “I am extremely happy for him because he is a very talented and hardworking player. When players like him perform well, as a leader, it makes me very happy and hopeful for the future. Ibrahim played a brilliant innings, and I pray that he continues to perform like this always.”