Kapil Dev's 175* or Glenn Maxwell's 201* - which is the greater ODI innings?

We witnessed one of the greatest innings ever on Tuesday, November 7, as Glenn Maxwell fired Australia to an unprecented three-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the 2023 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

It was a total one-man show from Maxwell, who made an unbeaten double century, the first-ever in an ODI chase. The superstar batter had barely any support from any of his teammates and the Aussies were reduced to 91/7 while chasing close to 300, but he battled pain and tiredness to miraculously take his team over the line.

Maxwell's knock has already entered the conversation of all-time great innings in ODI cricket, a conversation that undoubtedly features former Indian captain Kapil Dev's heroic unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup.

In this article, we take a look at the two knocks and attempt to identify which deserves to be ranked higher on the list of greatest ODI innings of all time.

---

Kapil Dev's 175* - An all-time knock hidden in words and not videos

Kapil Dev stepped up when his team needed him

India came into the penultimate match of the 1983 World Cup's group stage desperately needing a win against Zimbabwe. They had already upset the West Indies once and beaten Zimbabwe once already, but successive losses to the Windies and Australia meant that their qualification wasn't sealed yet.

The tournament's situation is something that goes in Kapil's favor - it was a hugely important game, unlike the Australia vs Afghanistan clash, since the Kangaroos were well on course to seal their passage to the knockouts. They needed to beat Bangladesh, a team close to the bottom of the table, in their final game if they lost to Afghanistan.

Things seemed to be going horribly south for India as they were reduced to 17/5 after electing to bat. From there, Kapil Dev pulled off an absolutely incredible heist, making an unbeaten 175 to take his team to a defendable 266/8. He scored 65.8% of his team's runs in his knock, which featured 16 fours and six sixes.

Boosted by the incredible win, as many players from that squad, including Sunil Gavaskar, have attested to, India went on to beat Australia in their final round-robin game to make the final four. The rest, as they say, is history, with Kapil's men pulling off an upset for the ages in the summit clash.

Kapil did it in an era where run-scoring wasn't as easy as it is now - his strike rate read 126.81, which was an admittedly incredible number given the situation he was confronted with.

Unfortunately, though, a major stumbling block that prevents Kapil's heroic effort from being confidently adjudged the best knock in ODI history is the tragic fact that it wasn't telecasted. There are no official highlights of the game either, meaning that everything he managed to achieve on that day is hidden in words and the odd photo.

Yes, the scorecard says enough, and the people who were present at Turnbridge Wells swear that they witnessed something out of this world. What else would they think, seeing a 24-year-old show the senior statesmen in his side how to bat? But it's definitely something that takes away some of the credibility and sheen.

---

Glenn Maxwell's 201* - A modern-day miracle

Glenn Maxwell wrote himself into the history books

That brings us to the most recent contender for greatest ODI knock of all time. Australia may not have had much riding on the game, but Glenn Maxwell's blitz was so noteworthy that few will remember the context in which it came.

For starters, it was in a chase, something that gives Maxwell a massive edge. He became the first batter in history to score an ODI double ton in the second innings, and to make his feat better, he did it from No. 6, just like Kapil.

Moreover, Maxwell fought through a great deal of discomfort over the course of his 128-ball stay at the crease. Only a year ago, he was recovering from a horrible fracture and needed to re-learn how to walk. He could barely walk in Mumbai as he hobbled from crease to crease and got into the most impossible positions before whacking the ball to all corners of the ground.

Some things do go against Maxwell, though. He was dropped twice, one of which was an absolute sitter, and he survived a close LBW call that had contentious ball-tracking. It wasn't the most convincing knock at the start - there were several instances where he could've walked back to the pavilion.

Nevertheless, it's impossible to start judging knocks based on whether they were chanceless or not, especially when comparing it with an untelecasted one from decades ago. So it's time to appreciate Maxwell for what he did achieve, which was scoring 68.6% of his team's runs and scripting a victory that will be remembered for a long time to come.

---

The verdict

This is a tough one to compare, given the drastic difference in eras. But Maxwell arguably just about takes the cake, by the barest of margins.

As mentioned earlier, not only was the knock captured on camera, but it was also a battle through pain against world-class bowlers on the biggest of stages. The clinching factor is perhaps the fact that it came in a chase, where the opposition generally has the upper hand when it comes to utilizing bowling resources and formulating plans.