Rohit propels India into semi-final; Australia's hopes suffer

India 205 for 5 (Rohit 92, Hazlewood 1-14) beaten Australia 181 for 7 (Head 76, Arshdeep 3-37, Kuldeep 2-24) by 24 runs

Rohit Sharma is the reason India is in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024. He was sublime. But then again, he’s been doing it for a long time, simply with his commitment to attacking play at his expense. This deserves recognition, but until now it has presented itself in an intangible form. Maybe in five days it will take the form of an ICC trophy.

On a sunny morning in St Lucia, the Indian captain scored 76 of his 92 runs in the boundary and left Australia with nowhere to hide. He even encouraged them to make mistakes. In total, 205 examples built on a series of broken records proved to be too many. He even provided isolation against Travis Head and that, of late, has been so rare it’s almost unheard of. Australia could still qualify for the final four, given that they lost by just 24 points, but they need Bangladesh to do them a favor and beat Afghanistan (although not by colossal margins) at St Vincent later Monday.

Rohit’s rampage

On November 19, he was supposed to lead his team to glory but left with tears in his eyes. On June 24, he had reason to believe that all that evil might rear its ugly head again when his opening partner and world’s best friend, Virat Kohli, fell in love with a duck. Some might have taken a step back. Rohit instead took Mitchell Starc for 29 runs in an over. He was 50 for 19 in the fifth. The other end had contributed 2 for 13. India’s 52 was the lowest score at which an individual player has brought up a half-century in T20Is where ball-by-ball data is available. Rohit was not playing.

Throw it and get punished

Australia played into Rohit’s hands a bit. Starc, for example, continued to refuel. It’s his only job. Try to find some swing. Try to break stumps. But at Daren Sammy Stadium, it was the wrong length. Josh Hazlewood has shown the way. He only threw twice during his stay and they were Yorkers. Every second ball was on a length or just short and he came away with figures of 1 for 14. Rohit was asked 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.

Rohit’s photos

Six of the 11 overs for which Rohit was present were in double figures. He was playing shots that he sometimes indulges in when he is not on 200 in ODI cricket. Like getting down on one knee and sweeping Pat Cummins, who came into this match with back-to-back hat-tricks, for a six that slammed into the roof of the stadium. He came down the track like water flowing down a cliff – so devastatingly smooth – and hit Marcus Stoinis over extra cover. He even tried a version of the scoop but ended up with a version of the sweater – a new addition to the playlist – but in the end, whatever he did worked for him. Even a defensive push to cover had such an aura behind it that Australia ended up playing poorly and giving up a second innings.

Starc’s healing

India scored 10 fours and 10 sixes while Rohit was in the side. After he fell, they were only able to manage nine in total. Starc deserves credit for this. He came back in the 12th over, changed his angle around the wicket to deny Rohit the freedom of his arms, and although he was still full, this time he took the lead and that made enough of a difference. The bat could not touch the ball and the stumps were broken. Starc’s slower delivery also removed Suryakumar Yadav, right in the middle of his own masterclass, scoring his runs in a way that didn’t always make sense. Cummins, once again, was the unlucky receiver as a ball closer to the wide line ended up with a home on the square leg boundary.

India bowled 21 no-bound deliveries between the 15th and 18th overs, but still managed a final strike as Hardik Pandya hit three sixes in the last two overs to push the total past 200.

An advance

David Warner fell on the first lap of the chase and there is now a risk that his 6 from 6 could be his last international outing. Australia, however, still had batters capable of dictating conditions. Mitchell Marsh took wicket-taker Arshdeep Singh for two fours and a six in an over and Head went one better by hitting Jasprit Bumrah on the length he likes to bowl with the new ball. This caused India to quickly turn to plan B – the Yorkers – and under pressure, even he missed one and bowled a full toss. Australia finished the powerplay at 65 for 1, five points better than India. Marsh’s power play and Head’s incredible ability to clear his lead leg and somehow open up vast swathes of the outfield on both sides had flipped the script.

Axar’s sensational catch

India needed something special and it arrived in the form of Axar Patel. He was a few yards short of the fence with deep square leg, which seemed like a mistake given it was Marsh on strike. The stain sweep flew off his bat. Flat. Hard. Meant to go for six. One support staff member even took cover, fearing he might beat the defensive player. But Axar wouldn’t let him. He jumped up, lunged with both hands, and caught it with his right. He was one of the ones that had to stay and that’s what happened. Each of his teammates ran towards him to celebrate this wicket. Against the run of play, a partnership of 81 off 48 was broken.

Kuldeep’s intervention

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 took a reverse sweep, which meant he was hitting with the turn, but against the wind, which when he was strong enough to carry Hardik away as he ran towards the bowling alley, that’s a big deal. Maxwell’s wrists managed to overcome this problem. He looked dangerous. Maybe enough to take on Kuldeep Yadav. So he charged India’s wrist and got bowled. This Google should be framed on a wall somewhere. This bothered Maxwell on so many levels. It was slower than he wanted. It was shorter than he needed. It turned out exactly the opposite way. And that left his stumps a mess. The dive on that ball was everything.

India struck twice in the next three overs, including Bumrah pushing Head back with a slower ball. Needing 53 from the last 18, the best Australia could do was reduce the margin of defeat.

Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source link