Glenn Maxwell’s epic double century in the 2023 ODI World Cup is history — an irked Afghanistan captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi, replied when asked if they have made some plans to tackle the hard-hiting Australian allrounder ahead of their virtual knockout fixture in Group B of the Champions Trophy on Friday.
Afghanistan elimianted England with an eight-run victory to intensify the race to semis and will meet the reigning ODI world champions in the concluding group-stage fixture for the two teams, with both the semifinal spots in Group B still open.
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At the pre-match press conference on Thursday in Lahore, Shahidi was not a happy captain when one of the scribes reminded him of Maxwell’s match-winning knock against Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
“You think we will come only to play with Maxwell? Do you think it will be like that? We have planned for the entire Australian team, and I know that he (Maxwell) played really well in the 2023 World Cup, but that’s part of history,” an agitated Shahidi reacted while responding to the question.
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Australia had lost seven wickets for less than hundred while chasing Afghanistan’s 292, but Maxwell produced a magical knock of 201* to complete a memorable win.
Shahidi was quick to remind that Afghanistan defeat Australia in the T20 World Cup last year.
“After that, we beat them in T20 World Cup, and we think about all (the entire) opposition team. We are not coming to the ground with plan for individual players. We will try our best to come with the planning, and we are not playing only Maxwell – we are playing Australia,” Shahidi said.
A victory against Australia would secure Afghanistan’s consecutive semifinal appearance in an ICC tournament within a year. However, Shahidi remains focused on the immediate task, choosing not to dwell on potential semifinal prospects.
“I think it will be a good game for cricket, and our focus will be to keep things simple and don’t worry much about playing semifinal. We will try to do our basics well,” said the Afghanistan skipper.
