The Indian men’s cricket team sealed its spot in the semi-finals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 after beating Australia by 24 runs in the Super 8 encounter at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St. Lucia on Monday.
Sent to bat first, India rode a stormy innings from captain Rohit Sharma to post 205/5 on the board. This was the joint-most highest score against Australia in T20 World Cups with the West Indies managing 205/4 back in 2010.
In response, Australia fell short despite a half-century by Travis Head.
The result means India top Super 8 Group 1 with three wins in as many matches and will face reigning champions England in the semi-finals on Thursday. Australia, meanwhile, will have to rely on Afghanistan losing to Bangladesh in the other Group 1 Super 8 match to make the top four.
Asked to bat first, India, the inaugural T20 World Cup champions, lost opener Virat Kohli early to Josh Hazlewood but Rohit Sharma looked in fine touch and took the attack to the opposition.
The Indian T20 captain hit Mitchell Starc for four sixes and one four as the Aussie speedster conceded 29 runs off the third over. A six of Pat Cummins’ first ball in the fifth over also saw Rohit become the first player in history to hit 200 sixes in T20I cricket.
The Hitman reached his half-century in 19 balls and continued the rampage. Rishabh Pant, who was mostly a spectator at the other end, however, was holed up in the deep while trying to heave Marcus Stoinis for a maximum.
India reached 100 in just 52 balls with Sharma contributing 78 of these. The Indian skipper seemed racing towards a century before Starc came back into the attack to castle him for 92 in 41 balls.
Starc also dismissed Suryakumar Yadav to finish with 2/45 and helped put the brakes on India’s scoring rate. A few late big hits from Indian vice captain Hardik Pandya, who scored an unbeaten 27 off 17, ensured India posted 205 – the highest score in the T20 World Cup 2024 to date.
The Australian chase got off to a rocky start with Arshdeep Singh forcing an edge off David Warner in the very first over. Suryakumar Yadav did the rest with a brilliant catch at slip.
However, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head led the Australian fightback and put on 81 runs for the second wicket in quick time.
Marsh (37) departed while trying to heave Kuldeep Yadav over deep square leg. Axar Patel, stationed in the area, plucked the ball, which seemed destined to clear the ropes, out of thin air.
Glenn Maxwell looked to carry on right from where Marsh had left off and was scoring briskly before Kuldeep struck again, thist time knocking over the batter’s stumps. Axar also removed Marcus Stoinis cheaply as Australia were left with 65 to get from the final five overs.
Jasprit Bumrah gave India the edge after removing danger man Head (76) in the 17th over. The wicket knocked the air out of Australia’s chase.
IND vs AUS T20 World Cup 2024 brief scores: India 205/5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 92; Mitchell Starc 2/45) Australia 181/7 in 20 overs (Travis Head 76; Arshdeep Singh 3/37; Kuldeep Yadav 2/24) by 24 runs.
