‘I have never seen anything like that’ - Ricky Ponting lauds Glenn Maxwell’s heroic innings

Game 39 of the ODI World Cup 2023 featured a clash between Australia and Afghanistan at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday, November 7. After Afghanistan posted a total of 291 runs on the board in the first innings, the Australian batting attack looked to be in trouble after some early wickets in the run chase. 

As the entire top order failed to go big, ace all-rounder Glenn Maxwell rose to the occasion and played a mammoth innings. Powering through the target, Maxwell amassed 201* runs in 128 deliveries and managed to win the game from Australia in what seemed to be an impossible run chase for the Men in Yellow.

Seeing his knock, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting was awestruck. Speaking of his innings, Ponting opined that he had never seen anything like Maxwell’s innings before. He also went on to say that he would be surprised if anything like this happened again.

"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," Ponting told ICC after the match.

"At that stage, Afghanistan was 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.

It is an innings that we will be talking about for a long, long time: Ponting

Furthermore, Ponting also stated that Maxwell’s innings are something that will be remembered for a long time pointing out how much of a chance Australia had to win the game, Ponting pointed out how much of a miracle the innings were.

"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 needed 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 in time had a 0.3 percent chance of winning the game; that's how much of a miracle of an innings it is," Ponting said.

Also check: Glenn Maxwell ODI Innings Performance