In an innings that was a throwback to Rohit Sharma‘s peak unprecedented range as a white-ball batter, Rohit Sharma blitzed a 41-ball 92 as India registered a 24-run win over Australia at St Lucia. Travis Head was in his element too, like he was in the 2023 ODI World Cup final, but Kuldeep Yadav’s magical spell tied down Australia as their chase fizzled away once Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell fell, shortly followed by Head.
In the first half of India’s innings, thanks to Rohit Sharma’s ‘s assault. Despite the wind factor and St Lucia being a six-hitting ground, the surface wasn’t always straightforward to tee off, particularly against the older ball. This is why Rohit’s innings stood out. None of the batters in the game struck the ball as cleanly as the Indian captain did and his breathtaking assault on Mitchell Starc (shortly after Virat Kohli had perished for a duck) was a stamp of intent that blew Australia away.
Pitch and Toss
The surface at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium is a batter-preferred surface. The bowlers could face a tough time on such a pitch, and opting to bat first after winning the toss could be a wise decision.
St Lucia has been the most batting-friendly venue of this T20 World Cup in terms of both scoring rate (8.92) and average (28.76). Fast bowlers have struggled to keep the runs down here, going at a worst-in-the-competition 9.42, but spinners have done relatively better, returning a better economy rate here (7.91) than in both Dallas and Antigua.
There is a good chance of rain in St Lucia, though, with forecasts predicting showers through Monday morning with the weather clearing up roughly between 10am and 4pm.
Australia skipper Mitchell Marsh won the toss and chose to bowl with one change as Ashton Agar is replaced by Mitchell Starc, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma batting first made no changes to the winning squad.
Rohit Sharma rips into Australia’s bowlers with rampaging assault in Powerplay
Put into bat, India had a shock start when Virat Kohli fell for a duck in the second over, extending his lean patch in the tournament. It was just the start Australia were searching for, until Rohit Sharma decided to counterpunch. And he counterpunch he did. Starc was hammered for a 29-run over that included four sixes and it was the passage of play that put India in the box seat. Rohit Sharma didn’t back down and his intent put severe pressure on the Australian bowlers.
On November 19, he was supposed to lead his team to glory but instead walked away with tears in his eyes. On June 24, he had reason to believe all that hurt might rise up again when his opening partner and world-beating bestie Virat Kohli fell for a duck. Some might have taken a backward step. Rohit Sharma took Mitchell Starc for 29 runs in an over instead. He was 50 off 19 in the fifth over. The other end had contributed 2 off 13.
India’s 52 was the lowest score at which an individual player had brought up a half-century in T20Is where ball-by-ball data is available. Rohit was not playing. Australia, though, played right into Rohit’s hands. Starc, for example, kept going full. It’s his one job. Try to find swing. Try to break stumps.
But at the Daren Sammy Stadium, that was the wrong length. Josh Hazlewood showed the way there. He pitched up only two times in his entire spell and those were yorkers. Every other ball was on a length or just short of it and he came away with figures of 1 for 14. Rohit Sharma was invited to play his front-foot shots 24 times and he scored 71 runs, including seven of his eight sixes and five of his seven fours.
India keep the momentum going in the middle overs as Rohit Sharma continued his assault.
Australia would have hoped to put the brakes on the scoring after the powerplay but Rohit Sharma wasn’t in any mood to relent. He did lose Rishabh Pant, who fell after a very scratchy innings, but Suryakumar Yadav came in to match his tempo with some crisp strokes. The four overs after the powerplay yielded 54 runs with boundaries coming thick and fast.
Even the guile of Adam Zampa had no effect on India’s rampage. It took a punt from Marsh to bring Starc back that gave Australia some respite. The left-arm pacer removed both set batters in his successive overs to halt the bleeding of runs. However, India had gotten to a strong position by then.
Six of the 11 overs that Rohit was out there for went for double-digits. He was batting like he does in ODI cricket, when he’s 200 not out. Going down on one knee and slog sweeping Pat Cummins, who came into this game with back-to-back hat-tricks, for a six that thudded onto the roof of the stadium.
Coming down the track like water flowing down a cliff – so devastatingly smooth – to smack Marcus Stoinis on the up over extra cover. Trying a version of the scoop but ending up with a version of the pull – new addition to the playlist. Bottom line was everything he was doing was working for him. Even a defensive push to cover had such an aura behind it that Australia ended up misfielding and giving up a second run.
Australia do damage control but India end on a strong score
India scored 10 fours and 10 sixes while Rohit was at the crease. After he fell, they could manage only nine combined. Starc deserves credit for that. He came back in the 12th over, shifted his angle around the wicket to deny Rohit the freedom of his arms, and although he still went full, this time he took pace off and that made enough of a difference.
The bat couldn’t touch ball and the stumps lay broken. Starc’s slower delivery took out Suryakumar Yadav too, right in the middle of a masterclass of his own, scoring his runs in a way that don’t always make sense. Cummins, once again, was the unlucky recipient as a ball that was close to the wide line ended up with a home on the square-leg boundary.
India went 21 deliveries without a boundary between the 15th and 18th overs but they still managed a finishing kick as Hardik Pandya nailed three sixes in the final two overs to push the total past 200.
After the dismissals of Rohit and Suryakumar, Australia managed to close out the innings reasonably well as only four boundaries were conceded in the last five overs. Josh Hazlewood finished off well to end an extraordinary spell amidst all the carnage while Pat Cummins also bowled effectively. Only the 19th over bowled by Marcus Stoinis proved very costly (14 runs) during this phase but otherwise, they managed to restrict India, who initially looked set for a 220-plus total.
David Warner falls but Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh motor along in the Powerplay
Much like their opponents, Australia also lost a big wicket early as David Warner perished in the first over of the chase to Arshdeep Singh. However, Head and Marsh counterattacked with precision, even taking 14 off a Jasprit Bumrah over in the powerplay. The assault, particularly on their premier bowler, clearly took India by surprise as they leaked runs in the first six overs. Both batters appeared to be in ominous touch once they got accustomed to the pace of the wicket.
David Warner fell in the first over of the chase and now there is risk that his 6 off 6 might be his last international outing. Australia still had batters capable of dictating terms out there though. Mitchell Marsh took the wicket-taker Arshdeep Singh for two fours and a six in an over and Head did even better by hitting Jasprit Bumrah off the length he likes to bowl with the new ball.
That made the India quick turn to plan B – yorkers – and under pressure even he missed one and bowled a full toss. Australia finished the powerplay at 65 for 1, five runs better than India. Marsh’s power game and Head’s incredible skill at clearing his front leg and somehow opening vast swathes of the outfield on both sides had flipped the script.
Australia explode but Kuldeep-Axar produce game-defining moments in middle overs
The middle overs phase was a tale of two halves in itself. India needed the partnership to be broken and Axar Patel’s moment of magic at the deep square leg fence did just that. He timed his leap to perfection to take a sharp overhead catch when a maximum seemed inevitable. Maxwell, though, started with a bang and kept Australia afloat with Head as runs kept coming at a brisk pace.
Kuldeep, though, had the last laugh as dislodged Maxwell who fell to a moment of brain fade and Axar then returned with the ball to remove Stoinis. From a position of extreme comfort, Australia imploded as India ended the middle overs phase on a high.
India needed something special and it arrived in the form of Axar Patel. He was a few yards off the fence at deep square leg, which seemed like an error considering it was Marsh on strike. The slog sweep flew off his bat. Flat. Hard. Destined to go for six. A support staff member was even ducking for cover fearing it would beat the fielder.
But Axar didn’t let it. He leapt up, went for it with both hands, and got it with just his right. It was one of those that had to stick and it did. Every last one of his team-mates ran up to him to celebrate that wicket. Against the run of play, a partnership of 81 off 48 was broken.
Glenn Maxwell was busy negating the advantage India had thanks to the quality of their spinners. He saw that Ravindra Jadeja had no one on the boundary at third man and for that reason alone he went reverse sweep, which meant he was hitting with the turn, but against the wind, which when it was strong enough to basically carry Hardik away as he was running in to bowl, posed a significant problem.
Maxwell’s wrists somehow overcame that. He was looking dangerous. Maybe enough to take on Kuldeep Yadav. So he charged at India’s wrist spinner, and got bowled. That googly should be framed up on a wall somewhere. It messed with Maxwell on so many levels. It was slower than he wanted it to be. It was shorter than he needed it to be. It turned the exact opposite way. And it left his stumps a mess. The dip on that ball was everything.
India close out the game with aplomb with a 24 runs win
India struck twice in the three overs that followed, one of which was Bumrah foxing Head with his off cutter. Needing 53 from the last 18, the best Australia could do was reduce the margin of defeat.
Much like the Indian innings earlier, Australia’s slog overs also tapered off. With wickets falling around him, Head also perished after having been left with too much to do. Australia could never recover from the mini-collapse between overs 10-15 and with Bumrah having two overs at the death, the asking rate was always going to be a mountain too high to climb.
Axar, like he did in the game against Pakistan, bowled a fabulous 16th over, cramping Head like he had done to Imad Wasim in New York. It was an over that Australia needed to score big off and once that didn’t happen, the game quickly slipped away from them.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Mitchell Marsh the loosing skipper said : Disappointing. It happens in the game of cricket. In the course of 40 overs, there are a lot of small margins. India were the better team, Rohit is a class player. (On Head and Maxwell’s batting) Gave us more belief than hope. In a run chase like that if you keep it at 10 an over, we are in the game. India’s bowlers were too good though in the end. Come on, Bangladesh now!
Rohit Sharma the winning skipper said : Satisfying. We know the opposition and the threat they bring. As a team we did well, kept doing the things we needed to do. Gives us good confidence as a team. 200 is a good score but when you are playing here with wind being a big factor, anything can happen. But I think we used to conditions really well, and it was about individuals doing their job. If was about getting wickets at the right time.
(On Kuldeep) We know the strength he has, but we need to use him when necessary. In New York, there were seamer friendly wickets. He had to miss out but we knew he had a big role to play out here. (On semi-final) We don’t want to do anything different, play the same way and understand what each person has to do.
Play freely and not think too much on what’s lying ahead. Not think about the opposition. We have been doing it consistently, just need to continue. (On playing England in semi) It will be a nice match, nothing changes for us as a team.
Rohit Sharma Player of the Match for his 92 runs said : That’s what I have to do (in the powerplay), try and see what the bowlers are doing, play accordingly. They changed their plans and tried to bowl against the breeze. Needed to be smart, was just backing myself to do. You got to understand that bowlers are smart, they are not going to bowl into the breeze.
I was thinking to hit everything that was possible. You can access all sides of the field, that is what I was trying to do. It has been a good wicket and you need to back yourself on good wickets, glad that it came off today. I told you that 50s and 100s don’t matter to me. Need to put the bowlers under pressure, and you need big scores for that. I tried to access all sides of the field, not just one side.
Rohit Sharma is the reason India are in the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-finals. He was sublime. But then again he has been for a long time, simply with his commitment to an attacking game at personal cost. It deserves credit but until now it’s come in intangible form. Perhaps in five days’ time, it will take the shape of an ICC trophy.
On a sunny morning in St Lucia, India’s captain Rohit Sharma scored 76 of his 92 runs in boundaries and left Australia with nowhere to hide. He even prompted them into mistakes. A total of 205 built on a series of broken records proved too much. It even offered insulation against Travis Head and that, in recent times, has been so rare it’s almost unheard of. Australia may yet make the final four, but they need Bangladesh to do them a favour and beat Afghanistan (by non-colossal margins) in St Vincent later on Monday.
India have booked their berth in the semifinals and according to the pre-tournament seeding, will play the second semifinal in Guyana where they will face England in a rematch of the 2022 semifinal between the two sides. Australia aren’t eliminated yet but they will need Bangladesh to beat Afghanistan to progress. An Afghanistan win or a washout will see the Asian side going through to the semifinal.