"I had adrenaline and pain and couldn't switch off" - Glenn Maxwell recalls his stunning double-hundred in 2023 World Cup
Swashbuckling Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has shared that he had trouble getting sleep due to the pain experienced after his 128-ball 201 against Afghanistan in the 2023 World Cup. The 35-year-old stated that he is yet to recover from it.
Maxwell suffered several muscle cramps on his way to an astonishing knock against Afghanistan at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 7. The spin-bowling all-rounder went down several times and had to settle for boundaries for a few overs due to not being able to run.
Speaking on 'No Balls: The Cricket Podcast', Maxwell said increasing age isn't allowing his body to recover as well as he'd hoped:
"I ended up getting to sleep at about 03:30-03:45. I had adrenaline and pain and couldn't switch off. I woke up about 7:30 and was back on dad duty with little Logan. I haven't recovered as well as I used to when I was a bit younger. It takes me a little bit longer to get over hot games. And I haven't faced over 100 balls in an ODI ever, it's a new experience."
The Victorian asserted this innings wouldn't mean much to him if Australia failed to lift the trophy:
"It hasn't sunk in how good it was. I understand the magnitude of the stats. But in my mind and how I was feeling out there, it just felt like me and Pat having fun. It's pretty cool to look back on but I still think that if we don't win this World Cup, it probably won't mean as much going forward. It'll be amazing, but I'd like to hope it puts us on that path to winning."
The veteran shattered plenty of records on the night, including becoming the 1st batter to smash an ODI double-century batting 2nd. Australia are now likely to face the mighty South Africa in the semifinals.
"We had a smile on our face the whole time" - Glenn Maxwell
Maxwell, who had two lives, also credited Pat Cummins for keeping the atmosphere chilled and gauging the situation well.
"The scoreboard flashed up that they were four overs behind and Pat goes, 'Don't worry, we'll get them in the last four overs when they've got an extra fielder inside the ring'. We had a smile on our face the whole time and tried to keep it as chilled out as we could."
The 35-year-old suggested that they weren't even thinking about a 'miraculous' comeback.
"When he came out, there was literally no chat about, 'Let's build a partnership, let's dig in'. It was just, 'Good luck. Little bit of spin, let's just see how we go. There was a wide at some stage and I joked, 'Don't worry, we'll get these in extras.' It wasn't like, 'We could pull off a miraculous win'. It was, 'This would be so funny if we got this done'".
Australia had faced the Proteas earlier in the tournament and were steamrolled by 134 runs.