Photo: Twitter/@cricket.com.au

The Australian cricket team pulled off a massive heist at the Old Trafford Cricket Stadium in Manchester last night, as to resurrect their innings from 73/5 to chase down a total in excess of 300 against World Champions England. The Australian team looked down and out in the game for most parts of it, but a staggering 224 run partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey helped them get a miraculous series win against the hosts.

Maxwell, who represents Kings XI Punjab in the Dream11 Indian Premier League, top scored for Australia that chase, scoring his second ODI century. His innings was studded with four fours and seven sixes, as he tackled the English bowlers head on to take Australia over the line from an improbable situation. The 32-year-old also got to 3000 ODI runs in this innings, people the fastest to reach that mark in terms of balls faced.

Needing 303 runs to win, Maxwell walked in to bat with the score reading 73/5 after 17 overs in this deciding ODI. The situation was tense but there was no sign of stress on the face of the veteran cricketer, who got a six off just the second ball he faced, flicking Jofra Archer off his pads.

Maxwell took on the role of the aggressor in that partnership with Alex Carey, maintaining a strike rate of more than a run a ball from the beginning of his innings. He targeted the leg spin of Adil Rashid, getting four sixes of his bowling to keep Australia in the chase despite that disastrous start.

Perfectly pacing his innings, the all-rounder got to his century off just 84 balls, providing the perfect firepower for the Australian chase. Maxwell got to his ton with a humongous six over cow corner off Tom Curran’s bowling. He was dismissed shortly after getting his ton by Rashid, but the odds were heavily in Australia’s favour by then.

Alex Carey also got to his century in that game, and Mitchell Starc struck the decisive blows in the final over in a game that went down to the wire, to give Australia a 2-1 win in the series. For his heroic century under pressure today, Maxwell was named man of the match and was also garnered with the man of the series accolade for his match-winning fifty in the first ODI.

“Not the ideal situation when I came in, but I had the license to go after. There was a short boundary so we targeted that. I'm trusting my technique at the moment, and I am a lot more still at the crease,” said the Australian all-rounder in the post match interview.

For Kings XI Punjab fans, the blitzkrieg performances from Maxwell couldn’t have come at a better time, with the Dream11 Indian Premier League scheduled to begin in a few days. Fans of the franchise would hope for this form to continue when they take on Delhi Capitals in their season opener on Sunday, September 20.