T20IWC: Rohit's explosive knock takes India to SF as Aussies bite the dust

 

India lost the final of the one-day world cup against Australia.  Rohit Sharma & Co reached the semi-finals after defeating that team in the T20 World Cup in style .  The way Travis Head started batting on Monday brought back memories of seven months ago for Indian fans.   Bumrah did not disappoint in the end.  Australia faced defeat . India won by 24 runs.

 Indian captain is called Hitman.  Against Australia, he once again proved the validity of his naming.  Playing the pull, hook , drive , cut & flick with disdain Rohit played effortlessly .  The Indian captain took 28 runs by launching a fierce assault in Mitchell Starc's one over.  29 runs were scored in that over.  Australia applied for Rohit's dismissal in the first over.  But the ball touched the ground on the bat and went to the fielder.  As a result, Australia did not get Rohit's wicket.  In the end, Starc took that wicket.  But by that time Rohit has scored a blistering 92 runs off 41 balls.  He missed out on a hundred by just 8 runs.

 

 Rohit scored a 19-ball fifty on Monday.  Hit a total of eight sixes and seven fours.  He did not spare any bowler except Jos Hazlewood.  While the rest of Australia's bowlers were giving over 10 runs per over, Hazlewood gave only 14 runs in 4 overs.  No Indian batsman could hit him for a six.  However, India did not have any difficulty in scoring 205 runs.

At one point, it looked like India might get 220 runs.  But the run rate slowed as Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav got out.  Starc's ball hits Rohit's bat and broke the wicket.  And Suryakumar was out by touching the bat unnecessarily with one hand outside the off stump.  He gifted his wicket to Starc.  India's hope of 220 runs ended when Surya returned with 31 runs from 16 balls.

 Hardik Pandya (27) and Shivam Dubey (28) scored tries.  But they wasted several balls before settling down at the crease.  As a result, despite playing a big shot at the end, India's innings was stuck at 205 runs.

 For Australia to qualify directly for the semi-finals, India would have to cross the target in 15.3 overs.  But Australia's batsmen never looked like they had it in mind.  Australia wanted to win the match.  So Travis Head finally tried to play and batted superbly . 

 Arshdeep Singh was the most successful Indian bowler.  He took three wickets for 37 runs in 4 overs.  But praise must be given to Kuldeep Yadav.  Before he came to bowl, the Australian batsmen were playing shots with ease and kept abreast with the asking rate without much effort with Head (76) leading the way Marsh (37) and Maxwell (20) batting well .  Kuldeep restricted the run flow .  He kept fooling the batsmen by changing the line and length of the ball.  That slowed down the pace of the run.  Kuldeep took the wicket of Glenn Maxwell and put Australia under pressure. Axar too bowled tight and also took a brilliant catch to dismiss a dangerously shaping Marsh . Several Aussie batsmen gave wickets after playing big shots. Australia had the game alive till Travis Head was batting and he looked in great form hitting 4s and 6s with ease before finally falling to a slower one from Bumrah . After Head dismissal , Australia lost their way to some tight bowling and finally lost by 24 runs 

 India's concern remained with Virat Kohli.  He did not get a run against Australia.  Virat got out for zero runs as he pulled Hazlewood and was caught .   The team will want him to return to the run in the semi-finals.

 There are problems with Ravindra Jadeja's bowling as well.  He gave 17 runs in one over in this match.  So far, Jadeja has not been able to attract attention with the ball.  Rohit did not give him more than one over.  Team India will want to overcome these problem before the semi-finals.