Captain Rohit Sharma’s blistering half-century led India to a 24-run win over Australia in the Super Eight Group One match of the ICC T20 World Cup on Monday, thanks to a superb performance by the bowlers led by Arshdeep Singh. He has reached the semi-finals with his third straight win. India are at the top with six points after winning all three of their Super Eight matches. The Indian team will now face England in the semi-finals on June 27. Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh from Group One still have a chance to qualify for the last four.
Chasing India’s target of 206, Australia scored 81 runs for the second wicket with opener Travis Head (76 runs, 43 balls, nine fours, four sixes) and their captain Mitchell Marsh (37) and Glenn Maxwell (19). Despite a partnership of 41 runs for the third wicket, she could only score 181 runs for seven wickets. When Travis Head was playing it looked like Australia would win the match, but Bumrah came at the crucial moment and took his wicket to put Australia on the back foot. From India, Arshdeep took three wickets for 37 runs while Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets for 24 runs. Akshar Patel (one wicket for 21 runs) and Jasprit Bumrah (one wicket for 29 runs) also took one wicket each.
Photo credit: IANS
Chasing the target, Australia lost the wicket of David Warner (06) in the first over, who was caught by Suryakumar off Arshdeep Singh. Marsh and opener Travis Head then took the score to 65 runs for one wicket in the power play. Arshdeep gave Marsh a lifeline on his own ball, taking advantage of which he hit a four and a six off consecutive balls in the same over. Head hit three fours off Bumrah. Marsh welcomed Akshar with fours and sixes and then hit two sixes at Pandya.
Akshar ended Kuldeep’s innings with a superb catch of Marsh over the deep square leg boundary. He hit three fours and two sixes off 28 balls. Head completed his half-century in 24 balls with three fours off Pandya. Glenn Maxwell (19) took the team’s score past 100 runs with the help of a four and a six off Ravindra Jadeja’s first two balls in the 11th over.
Kuldeep bowled Maxwell to give India their third breakthrough while Akshar had Marcus Stoinis (02) caught by Pandya. Australia needed 65 runs from the last five overs. While returning to the bowling, Bumrah got caught out by Rohit and gave a big blow to Australia. Arshdeep got Matthew Wade (01) caught at short third man by Kuldeep to give India their sixth success. Tim David (15) hit a four and a six in this over but was then caught by Bumrah at short third man. Cummins hit Bumrah for a six in the 19th over but still scored only 10 runs in the over. Australia needed 29 runs from the last over but Pandya gave away just four runs to ensure India’s win.
Rohit’s aggressive batting
Marsh won the toss and invited India to bat, after which the team lost the wicket of Virat Kohli in the second over, who was caught by Tim David off Hazlewood without opening the account. Rohit opened Starc’s account in his first over and scored 29 runs in the next over with four sixes and a four.
Rohit scored a 19-ball half-century against Australia
Photo credit: PTI
Rohit greeted Cummins with a six, after which the game was halted for a while due to rain. When the match resumed, Rohit completed his half-century in just 19 balls with the help of two fours and a run off Cummins. In the power play, India scored 60 runs for one wicket. Pant and Rohit welcomed leg-spinner Adam Zampa with sixes. Rohit hit back-to-back fours and two sixes off Stoinis in the eighth over but Pant caught Hazlewood in the same over. Suryakumar completed India’s century with a four off Jumpa in the ninth over and then hit a four and a six off Cummins’ back-to-back deliveries.
Starc returned to bowling and bowled a yorker to Rohit. Dubey opened with a six over Zampa while Suryakumar drove Stoinis into the crowd. However, Suryakumar was caught out by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade as he tried to tamper with Starc’s ball going away from the off side. He hit three fours and two sixes in a 16-ball innings.
Pandya was lucky with a personal score of four when Marsh took a very easy catch at backward point off Zampa. Taking advantage of the lease of life, Pandya hit Stoinis for two consecutive sixes but Dubey caught Warner out on the boundary. Ravindra Jadeja hit Cummins for a six in the last over to take the team’s score past 200 runs.
Fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Marcus Stoinis took two wickets each for Australia but both proved costly. Starc gave 45 runs while Stoinis gave 56 runs. Josh Hazlewood bowled very economically and took one wicket for 14 runs in four overs. Pat Cummins also spent 48 runs in four overs with no wickets.