World Cup 2023 | Maxwell’s Miracle in Mumbai — the greatest ODI innings ever? Premium

What the Australian did at the Wankhede on Tuesday night defied belief; it still does, a day later. It will, years later. It was one of the greatest solo acts in cricket ever and was made possible by his captain Pat Cummins, who is turning into the best non-striker in world cricket

Sometimes a work of genius surfaces that blows the mind, numbs the senses.

Like Pather Panchali, Satyajit Ray’s debut film. Who would have thought an untrained or inexperienced crew — headed by the director himself — and a bunch of mostly amateur actors, braving financial woes, would make one of the masterpieces of world cinema?

One of the biggest compliments to Ray was paid by Akira Kurasawa, a legendary filmmaker himself: “Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.”

ALSO READ: Australia captain Cummins lauds Glenn Maxwell for ‘greatest innings’ in ODI history

Not to have seen Glenn Maxwell perform the Miracle in Mumbai is a bit like that, if you are a cricket fan. What he did at the Wankhede defied belief on Tuesday night. It still does, a day later. It will, years later. Maxwell’s 201 not out off 128 balls against Afghanistan has to be the greatest ODI innings of all time. There have, of course, been some incredible knocks that have stood the test of time in the 4695 ODIs played before that over the last five decades.

Kapil Dev’s 175 against Zimbabwe in 1983 — it remains the innings that changed cricket forever — Viv Richards’ 189 not out (vs England, 1984), Saeed Anwar’s 194 (vs India, 1997), Herschelle Gibbs’ 175 (vs Australia, 2006), Sachin Tendulkar’s 143 (vs Australia, 1998), Steve Waugh’s 120 not out (vs South Africa, 1999), Ricky Ponting’s 140 not out (vs India, 2003), A.B. de Villiers’ 149 (vs West Indies in 2015), Kevin O’Brien’s 113 (vs England, 2011), Martin Guptill’s 237 not out (vs West Indies, 2015), Rohit Sharma’s 264 (vs Sri Lanka, 2014)...

The list is exhaustive, and there is in fact more, but still Maxwell’s heroics would take some beating. One had the good fortune of watching him score a 40-ball hundred live at New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley’s Stadium against the Netherlands a week earlier. That was one of the most astounding displays of batting in recent times. He had come to the crease only in the 40th over and after getting to his fifty off 27 balls — with a stunning six off Bas de Leede over point reversing his stance — he reached his second off 13, breaking the World Cup record for the fastest hundred.