Rohit Sharma’s India national cricket team seen in action in the 51st match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 against the Mitchell Marsh-led Australia national cricket team at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia, on Monday, June 24. .
High-flying India approached the match against the Australian national cricket team with great confidence as they had won their previous Super 8 matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in dominant fashion and also held a 3-2 lead over their arch-nemesis in the T20World. History of the Cup. Additionally, Men In Blue finished the group stage of the competition, having won all 3 matches in which they competed.
This was the first time these two teams had faced each other in the ICC T20 World Cup since 2016. In that 2016 T20 World Cup match, India beat Australia by 6 wickets with 5 balls remaining in Mohali on 27 March.
Batting first, Australia managed to post 160/6 on the board thanks to good batting performances from Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and Usman Khawaja. For the Indian team, Hardik Pandya (2), Yuvraj Singh (1), Ravichandran Ashwin (1), Jasprit Bumrah (1) and Ashish Nehra (1) were among the wickets.
During the chase, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma could not give a good start to the Indian team and were dismissed for low scores. However, Virat Kohli showed a batting masterclass in the match and played an absolutely sensational knock despite not getting much support from the other batsmen.
Today’s great batsman smashed the Australian bowlers all over the park and recorded 82 runs off 51 balls. His innings were packed with 9 fours and 2 sixes and he also bagged the Player of the Match award for his heroics.
Coming back to the IND vs AUS T20 World Cup 2024 clash, India posted a massive total of 205/5 on the board, thanks to captain Rohit Sharma’s sensational batting performance. After India lost Virat Kohli for a duck, Rohit Sharma took charge and played an attacking style of cricket. He ended his innings with 92 runs, while Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya also made decent contributions.
I told you 50 and 100 don’t matter to me – Rohit Sharma
While defending the total, India dismissed David Warner for 6, but Travis Head, who loves to bat against the Men in Blue, once again gave the team a big scare. Head scored 76 runs and took the game deep. He was finally dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah in the 17th over and the wicket completely changed the match in India’s favour. For India, Arshdeep Singh (3), Kuldeep Yadav (2), Jasprit Bumrah (1) and Axar Patel (1) shone with the ball and restricted Australia to 181/7 to help their team win by 24 runs.
Speaking after winning the Man of the Match award, Rohit Sharma stated that he simply did what the team needed with the bat. The Indian captain also reiterated the fact that he doesn’t care about milestones and is only about putting pressure on the players. Rohit Sharma explained:
“I told you that 50 and 100 don’t matter to me. I need to put pressure on the players, and for that you need big scores. I tried to access all sides of the field, not just one side.”
While talking about the team’s performance, Rohit Sharma said that he was quite satisfied that they did the job because 200 was not a sure total considering the conditions of the offer. Rohit Sharma said:
“Satisfactory. We know the opponent and the threat they pose. As a team we did well, we continued doing the things we had to do. It gives us a lot of confidence as a team. 200 is a good result, but when you play here with wind “Being a factor Importantly, anything can happen. But I think we got used to the conditions very well, and it was about people doing their job, it was about getting wickets at the right time.”
When asked about Kuldeep Yadav, Rohit Sharma praised the wrist-spinner and said they knew he would deliver for the West Indies. Rohit Sharma said:
“(On Kuldeep) We know the strength he has, but we need to use him when needed. In New York, there were seamer-friendly wickets. He had to miss out, but we knew he had an important role to play here.”
Finally, Rohit Sharma spoke about the semi-final match against England and said that they want to do what has worked for them and play freely instead of worrying about the opponent. Rohit Sharma said:
“(About the semi-final) We don’t want to do anything different, play in the same way and understand what each one has to do. Play freely and not think too much about what awaits us. Don’t think about the rival. We have been doing it consistently, I just need to continue (On playing against England in the semi-finals). It will be a good game, nothing changes for us as a team.
