T20 WC: India beat Australia by 24 runs to reach semi-finals in S8 clash in St Lucia, West Indies
In the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Cricket, India advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Australia by 24 runs in their Super 8 clash at St. Lucia last evening. Put in to bat first, India posted a formidable target of 206 before Australia, scoring 205 for five in 20 overs.
Skipper Rohit Sharma led the charge with a blistering 92 off just 41 deliveries, supported by Suryakumar Yadav’s quickfire 31 runs off 16 balls. Rohit was awarded Player of the Match. India restricted Australia to 181 for seven in 20 overs. For Australia, Travis Head scored 76 runs from 43 balls.
Meanwhile, the last Super Eight clash between Afghanistan and Bangladesh is underway at Kingston in St. Vincent. Afghanistan has won the toss and is batting first. The fourth semifinalist of the tournament will be determined by the result of today’s match.
India will face the defending champions, England, in Guyana in the semi-final on Thursday. South Africa has already secured a spot in the semi-finals.
In an innings that was a throwback to his 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’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. Australia did come back reasonably well in the second half but the total of 205 always seemed a bit above par.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 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 didn’t back down and his intent put severe pressure on the Australian bowlers.
Australia would have hoped to put the brakes on the scoring after the powerplay but Rohit 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.
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.
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.
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 brainfade 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.
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.
Brief scores: India 205/5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 92, Suryakumar Yadav 31; Mitchell Starc 2-45) beat Australia 181/7 in 20 overs (Travis Head 76, Mitchell Marsh 37; Kuldeep Yadav 2-24) by 24 runs
