'Limping Glenn' puts up 'Big Show' to take Australia to WC semis

Mumbai: Batting on one leg, Glenn Maxwell used his bat like a butcher's blade and produced an astonishing double century to singlehandedly lift Australia into another World Cup semi-final with a threewicket win over Afghanistan here on Tuesday.

Chasing a target of 292, everyone at the Wankhede Stadium rubbed their eyes in disbelief as Australia slumped to 91 for 7 in 18.3 overs and staring at an annihilation.

But Maxwell had other ideas. With some slice of luck, he launched into an over-eager Afghan attack, smashing an unbeaten 201 off 128 balls with the help of 21 fours and 10 sixes to end the game in 46.5 overs.

With 12 points and a match left, Australia joined India (16 points) and South Africa (12 points) in the last four stage while 11 incredibly talented Afghanistan cricketers, who had almost ensured that their fairy tale story don't reach its epilogue, found themselves on the wrong side of the result.

History will judge if the knock at Wankhede, in terms of match situation, could be termed the greatest in ODI cricket. Who knows, it could act as the perfect fuel for Australia to win their sixth World Cup.

Batting on one leg after suffering from cramps, Maxwell just used his strong core and stable base to practice rangehitting as Hashmatullaah Shahidi's bowlers erred tactically, feeding him with length balls on slot which allowed him to just plonk his front-foot and use his brute strength to let them all land into the Wankhede stands. (PTI)