Australian team staged an epic comeback as star batter Glenn Maxwell smashed a record-breaking double-century to clinch a famous win for the Pat Cummins-led team at Mumbai. Maxwell took the onus and rescued Australia after Naveen-ul-Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai came up with a shocking batting collapse of the five-time World Cup winners at the famous Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. On the back of this win, the Kangaroos sealed its berth for the semi-finals.
Afghanistan star batters Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Zadran gave a solid start after they won the toss and decided to bat first. The duo went on to add 38 for the opening stand before Josh Hazlewood got better of Gurbaz for 21(25).
Zadran and Rahmat Shah then continued to torture the Australian bowlers as they added 83 runs for the third wicket before Glenn Maxwell broke the stand. Shah departed for 30(44), and shortly after Mitchell Starc snared Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi for 26(43). Adam Zampa then came up with a breakthrough for Australia in the 43rd over. Azmatullah Omarzai was grabbed by Glenn Maxwell for 22(18). Hazlewood then dismissed Mohammad Nabi for 12(10).
It was Ibrahim Zadran who single-handedly led the Afghanistan fight helping them post a stiff 291/5 on the board. He ended up collecting an unbeaten 129(143) and also became the first Afghanistan cricketer to hit a century in ODI World Cups.
For Australia, Josh Hazlewood scalped two wickets while Mitchell Starc, Zampa, and Maxwell picked up a wicket each. In reply, Australia suffered an early flow when speedster Naveen snared batter Travis Head for 0(2), and then after snaring Mitchel Marsh LBW for 24(11) as Afghanistan managed to keep things under control. Omarzai then got better of David Warner and Josh Inglis in consecutive deliveries as Australia were reduced to 49/4 in 8.2 overs.
Maxwell then came up and started punishing the Afghani bowlers while Pat Cummins kept on playing the anchor role. The duo stayed in the middle till the end, helping their team beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets.