[Emvi]

Incredible stuff from Maxwell! Equally good rear guard action from the skipper. But, spare a thought for Mujeeb. It will definitely take some time for him to recover from this shock.

Once Australia lost 7 wickets, Afghans probably took it a little too easy. Another classic case of 'It ain't over until it's over' in cricket. Tough luck Afghanistan.

[ABHI_1512]

This innings from Maxwell proves what match winners can do on their chosen day. When they click, they help win from almost impossible positions. As much as I enjoyed the brutal hitting, so feel for the Afghan team. They gave it everything to the match and almost won against such formidable team but then Maxwell stood tall. I am counting on Surya Kumar Yadav to play such an innings in this World Cup. Let’s see if that happens or not.

[DetectiveMiles]

This has to be THE best ODI 200, incredible show by Maxwell and firm support from Pat Cummins made this possible. Afghanistan looked like they had given up after a point and weren't really able to get back. their inexperience showed. Still very good game overall.

[AtheK]

Mujeeb name will be written next to Gibbs!! Unfortunate but true.

[SoumenD]

Phew!!! What a match. Take a bow Mr. Maxwell

My heart goes out to the Afghans. No wonder they say: Catches win matches. That dropped catch overpowered all their hard work in this game.

So now that this is dusted are we looking at India vs Pak semifinal?

[krankstter]

In all the time that I spent revolving around the sun 24 times, I’ve seen quite a few matches, but nothing comes close to what Maxwell has managed to demonstrate today. I’m extremely glad I got to watch this match on live TV. I hate the thought of watching cricket live in stadiums, but this made me wish I was in Wankhede for this sheer euphoria that he induced.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

So now that this is dusted are we looking at India vs Pak semifinal?

Who knows?

What if both Sri Lanka and England win and then Afghanistan wins with south Africa. England will be extra motivated to somehow finish in top 8 to qualify for champions trophy.

Bangalore match is doubtful with all the rains happening here, that means they will end at 9 points. Many permutations and combinations possible.

4th place is still wide open.

[antz.bin]

The Afghan run of good cricket was great till it lasted. They hadn't come up against a team with the fighting spirit of the Australians till date. When they did experience the Aussie fight, they buckled. Afghans are good enough to take on any team in the competition in these conditions but not the very best ones yet. Its heartening to see their improvement but unfortunately they ran into a juggernaut yesterday and had no way of overcoming it.

This game will be a reminder for them for the future. A reminder to never slack off till the end. Because it's not over till it's over. Anyways the tournament needed something like this to take our collective minds off the events from a day prior.

This was the fight that was missing all tournament and even though I am disappointed that the Afghans lost, I am glad that the fight is back. Teams in this tournament have been rolling over without even a sliver of counter attack or rearguard action. Great to see Maxi buck the trend.

I was watching the game since the 5th wicket fell and watched it all the way till Maxwell was at around 118. I could see that he was getting cramped up in the Mumbai heat and it was only a mishit that could change the course of the game. The mishit that the Afghans kept hoping for but never came. It only needed a bit of belief from the Afghans who seemed lost by over #32. The rest of the game seemed a mere formality.

I could no longer watch it go on so I switched to something else hoping that their luck will turn. Sadly it didn't. But good to see the Australians playing like their unbeatable selves again.

Moving on, signs in the top 4 are looking ominous.

Australia have their fight back.
Pakistan have finally gotten rid of Inzy's nephew and Fakhar Zaman is back at the top going great guns.
South Africa will probably get their bearings back again in their last group game against Afghanistan

New Zealand is the only one not firing right now but they are still placed better than Pakistan at the moment to make the top 4. I hope they beat SL with a decent margin and knock Pakistan out of the tournament.

I also hope SKY can also find his fluent self somewhere down the line so that the last chink in the Indian armour can be fixed.

[PreludeSH]

Afghans showed their immaturity. Captaincy also was bad and they were clueless. Great show by Maxwell but it was so ugly and brutal and bowling was too ordinary for him to miss anything.
Hope Afghanistan learnt something for future. You a nre ever done with the game whatever the scoreline is.

[ValarMorghulis]

Hats off Maxi for that unbelievable chase!

Afg were complacent in the field. Dropping an Aussie is a crime, but twice? That too Maxwell? Inexcusable and they were rightly punished.

Their sub-standard bowling in the last 25 overs didn't help them either.

[am1m]

What an innings!

Now the question is, will yesterday rejuvenate the Aussies and pump them up to go all the way? With a team like Aus, good chance.

Or did yesterday take so much out of them that it will have an effect on the knockouts?

Waiting to see. Opinions?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Bangalore match is doubtful with all the rains happening here, that means they will end at 9 points. Many permutations and combinations possible.

TN weatherman was mentioning this as early as Saturday. In

If this happens, semis will be a straight fight between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghanistan have to put a big score like yesterday and let SA chase. And they have to win big to overhaul the NRR difference.

A funny outcome of the possible washout is that SL will make it to top 7 (thereby qualifying for the Champions Trophy) unless Bangladesh pullout an impossible win against the Aussies.

Originally Posted by am1m

Now the question is, will yesterday rejuvenate the Aussies and pump them up to go all the way? With a team like Aus, good chance.

Any opposition team that watched yesterday's match would see 2 things:

1. How dangerous Maxi is
2. On a good pitch which assists bowling, how badly can Australia fold on chasing

Its almost the same story with Proteas, where Glenn Maxwell is replaced by Aiden Markram.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by narayans80

TN weatherman was mentioning this as early as Saturday. In

If this happens, semis will be a straight fight between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghanistan have to put a big score like yesterday and let SA chase. And they have to win big to overhaul the NRR difference.

While england has been a shadow of being at best, they have a huge incentive of beating Paksitan to qualify for champions trophy. Everyone is going so gaga about Pakistan as if they are some world beater team, they have the worst Spin attack in the tournament and are well known to choke as well.

So there is no straight fight at this point, even with NZ getting to 9 in case of a washout, Pakistan still will need to play out of there skins to beat England.

I see pakistan losing the game against england.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Everyone is going so gaga about Pakistan as if they are some world beater team, they have the worst Spin attack in the tournament and are well known to choke as well.

Very few have been stressing this since the hype created is that Pak is a fiery bowling unit. Not just spin, all their fast bowlers have been pedestrian as well. They may have had a one off spell against Bangladesh but we saw what NZ can do to their bowling attack. The team purely revolves around hype and no big performances to go with the hype.

[harry10]

As great Maxwell innings was that bowling effort was club tier. No bouncers, no wide outside off balls when you know he can't reach properly. No yorkers when his feet ain't moving. Everything in the slot.

Haven't seen such bad bowling without any thought process in sometime. Only Rashid khan was trying to get them out bowling variation and on stumps. Mujeeb didn't only dropped his catch he went on to bowl absolutely rubbish bowling. When you are playing at this level you need to forget the catch drop and perform with your primary skill. In fact Noor the new comer has much better temperament than him.

Champion innings nonetheless. Such insane power from wrists and forearms without any major movement from rest of the body is rare to see. Clearly in top 3 of all time innings.

Aussies meets SA now in semis. Venue will be decided on basis of who qualifies between NZ and Pak. I want SA to win as they have a better team with barring last match abberation, everyone is performing.

I hope we can meet NZ in semis and defeating them in semis will be good and fitting considering 2019 semis.