How India batters blew away Australia bowlers in St Lucia

Captain Rohit Sharma was back with a bang after a brief dip in is form, smashing a breathtaking 92 off 41 balls to help India breach the 200-barrier for the first time in the 2024 T20 World Cup, posting a daunting 205/5 in their Super 8 clash against Australia in Gros Islet.

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Rohit had registered scores of 13, 3 and 8 against Pakistan, USA and Afghanistan respectively followed by a quickfire 23 against Bangladesh. On Monday, however, Rohit smashed his way to a 19-ball half-century — the fastest of the ongoing tournament and his second of the tournament after his unbeaten 52 against Ireland in India’s tournament opener.

The highlight of Rohit’s sensational assault, as well as the Indian innings as a whole, was the manner in which he tore left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc to shreds during the powerplay.

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Starc, who replaced left-arm finger spinner Ashton Agar in the Australian XI for their must-win clash against the Men in Blue, went for five runs in the first over of the innings including a boundary to Rohit in the third delivery.

Josh Hazlewood would then strike in the following over, getting Virat Kohli dismissed for a five-ball duck as the former India skipper perished while attempting to pull a short ball from the seamer, getting caught near mid on.

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Rohit needed to shift gears right away to prevent the Aussies from capitalising on the early strike, and did so in ruthless fashion by unleashing mayhem in the third over — smashing Mitchell Starc for 29 runs with the help of four sixes and a four!

Read | What changes India and Australia made for Super 8 match in St Lucia?

Rohit would then greet Cummins with a 100-metre maximum that sent the ball onto the roof of the Daren Sammy National Stadium at the start of the fifth over and later brought up his 31st T20I half-century in just 19 deliveries. India ended up reaching 60/1 at the end of the powerplay.

The party wouldn’t come to an end after the end of the fielding restrictions though; Rohit would slog-sweep leg-spinner Adam Zampa for a maximum towards deep midwicket in the first over of the powerplay. That was followed by two sixes and a four off consecutive deliveries in Marcus Stoinis’s first over.

Best pals Zampa and Stoinis ended up conceding 16 and 17 runs respectively in their first overs as India raced past 100 in just 8.4 overs — the fastest in T20 World Cup history.

The ‘Hitman’ appeared set for a sixth T20I century when he was castled by Starc shortly after the halfway mark in the Indian innings, leading to a triumphant roar from the senior pacer who had been under immense pressure after leaking runs aplenty in the powerplay.

Read | What happens if India-Australia match in St Lucia gets washed out?

While Rohit’s knock was the cornerstone of the Indian innings, the trio of Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 16), Shivam Dube (28 off 22) and vice-captain Hardik Pandya (27 not out off 17) chipped in with valuable contributions to help India go past 200 and register the joint-highest total against Australia in the T20 World Cup.

Though Starc (2/45) and Stoinis (2/56) collected a couple of wickets each, it was Josh Hazlewood who was the star with the ball with his outstanding figures of 1/14 from four overs.

Brief scores:

India 205/5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 92, Suryakumar Yadav 31; Mitchell Starc 2/45) vs Australia.