St Lucia, JUN 24: India set a 206-run target for Australia in their last match of the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 which is being played at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia on Monday.
The highlight was India’s innings was their captain Rohit Sharma’s explosive knock, where he scored 92 runs on 41 balls with the help of seven fours and eight sixes and broke multiple records.
India started their innings poorly as star batter Virat Kohli returned to the pavilion without scoring a run. However, losing his partner didn’t stop Sharma from playing attacking cricket.
Sharma scored 29 runs to Mitchell Starc where he hit four sixes and a four, it was the over which started the Hitman’s charge on the Aussies’ bowlers which didn’t stop till the end of his innings.
The 37-year-old was on his way to complete his well-deserving century but Starc’s yorker ended his innings. After Sharma’s departure, Suryakumar Yadav played a quick 16-ball 31-run knock while Shivam Dube scored 28 off 22.
Hardik Pandya down the order provided crucial 27 runs off 17 deliveries and helped India conclude their innings at 205-5 in 20 overs.
For Australia, Starc and Marcus Stoinis bagged two wickets each, Josh Hazlewood picked one while Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa went wicketless.
Earlier today, Australia’s skipper Mitchell Marsh won the toss and revealed the reason behind opting to bowl first saying that they want to chase as the track looks better.
“We found ourselves in this position a few times, backs to the walls,” Marsh said. “At this stage of the tournament every game’s a must win, pressure comes with that.”
Playing XIs
Australia: 1 Travis Head, 2 David Warner, 3 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
