Rohit Sharma’s brutal attack decimated Australia’s pacers and left the Australia bowlers unanswered as he powered India to a 205/5 win in Group 1 of the ongoing ICC T20 WC 2024 Super 8 at the Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Dare on Sunday.
Six rains in St Lucia as the captain bats like a dream, mixing aggression with sheer class, while an unbeaten 27-man powerhouse of Suryakumar Yadav (31), Shivam Dube (28) and Hardik Pandya put India on a huge footing. lead all together India hit 15 sixes in the innings, 8 of which came from Rohit’s bat.
For Australia, however, Josh Hazlewood kept the pressure on as he conceded just 10 from three overs to ensure the powerplay ended at 60/1. Meanwhile, India’s batting line-up has been decimated with Mitchell Starc conceding 45, Pat Cummins taking 0/48 and Marcus Stoinis returning 2/56. Firstly, Indian captain Rohit Sharma started the Indian attack with a boundary in the first innings of the game.
Josh Hazlewood dealt India a big blow when he bowled Virat Kohli’s second through a wicketkeeper. Hazlewood bowled a short, fastball in the over, over which Kohli took a sloppy catch. Kohli tried the pull but only got a top edge that went wide of mid-on and Tim David showed great sportsmanship to dive back 25 meters from inside the circle to take a well-judged catch and send Kohli back to the pavilion scoreless.
Kohli’s troubles in the competition increased as a result of his early exit, as his first performance did not yield the expected outcomes. In the third match, Rohit raged against Mitchell Starc as he hit 6,6,4,6,0,6 for 29 runs. In a fearless and daring stroke, the Indian captain hit a half-century off 19 balls and also the fastest fifty of the ongoing tournaments.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa was brought into the attack after the power play and the bowler was destroyed by the Indian duo of Rohit and Rishabh Pant. India lost their second wicket when Pant was on 15. The wicket-keeper batsman tried to play one to the leg side, but Hazlewood hit a simple shot at mid-off.
India reached 100 in just 8.4 overs. Australian pacer Starc blasted off Rohit’s stumps and dealt a major blow to India. The Indian captain fell short of a well-deserved hundred when he fell to 92 from 41 balls. Rohit’s wicket invited Shivam Dube to the crease and the shot landed at mid-on for four, leaving Zampa no respite.
After all the runs leaked by the Australian bowlers, Hazlewood held firm and ended his spell at 1/14, with most of his peers going at 10 and 12. In the 19th over, Shivam Dube was caught by Marcus Stoinis after 28 runs. Towards the end, Hardik Pandya contributed with a quick cameo and Ravindra Jadeja also played a useful hand to get India past 200.
