AUS vs BAN: Ricky Ponting Opens Up On Glenn Maxwell's Historic Knock, Says "I Will Be Very Surprised If..."

Glenn Maxwell‘s stunning knock against Afghanistan has stunned one and all and Ricky Ponting is not an exception either. The former Australia captain has heaped praise on the batter for his knock and said that he would be surprised if the knock is bettered by anyone in the future.

Chasing 292 runs for a place in the semifinals, Australia were in all sorts of trouble. The five-time world champions were staring down the barrel after being reduced to 91 for 7. With 200 runs still needed and only one recognized batter left in Glenn Maxwell, the game looked done and dusted for Australia. A back injury and severe cramps only made things worse for Maxwell.

However, the hard-hitting batsman stunned the cricketing world by playing one of the best if not the best ODI knock of all time. He smashed an unbeaten 201 runs off just 128 balls to power his team to a miraculous win. The right-handed batter’s knock was studded with 21 fours and 10 sixes. Maxwell shared an unbeaten stand of 202 runs with captain Pat Cummins who remained unbeaten on 12 off 68 balls.

Ricky Ponting hails Glenn Maxwell:

Heaping praise on Maxwell, Ricky Ponting said that he had never seen anything like it in the game. He stated that Maxwell was under immense pressure right from the word go as Afghanistan players were pumped up after making the solid start with the ball.

“I have been around a lot of games, playing and calling, and I have never seen anything like that, and I will be very surprised if I see anything like that ever again,” Ricky Ponting told ICC after the match.

“At that stage, Afghanistan were up and about, they were really trying to take it to the Australians. They were verbal, there were things being said. There was great body language from the fielding group. They were really trying to put as much pressure on Australia as they could,” he added.

Speaking about Maxwell’s knock, the Australia great said: “Maxwell got through that first ball, got lucky a couple of times and the rest is history. It is an innings that we will be talking about for a long long time. I think at that stage he would have been thinking that he needs to be there till the end of the game for Australia to win.

“After 49/4 he knew that he had to be the man to take Australia to a win. Australia at one point of time had a 0.3 per cent chance of winning the game, that’s how much a miracle of an innings it is,” he added.

 

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