At St. Lucia yesterday (24th June) in the ongoing T20 World Cup tournament, fans were treated to a scintillating contest as India overcame Australia and won by 24 runs in a pulsating Super 8 match. It was a massive show of individual brilliance on Rohit Sharma,’s part who captains India: with just 41 balls bowled in his team innings, he hit 92 smoking centuries that allowed him to put up a very big score of 205/5.
Australia, chasing a stiff target, got off to a decent start with David Warner and Aaron Finch providing early momentum. However, the introduction of spin changed the complexion of the match. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel weaved their magic, picking up crucial wickets at regular intervals. Though Travis Head (76) played a lone hand for the Aussies, the asking rate kept climbing, making the chase a distant dream. Jasprit Bumrah’s dismissal of the dangerous Head in the 17th over proved to be the turning point, as Australia eventually fell short at 181/7.
It’s as if Rohit Sharma’s inning provided a shortcut for understanding how bundled-up willows get used during a T20 game; it was brilliant and successful, consistently hitting the boundaries. Therefore, he participated in putting together a useful second wicket stand with Virat Kohli (38) that allowed their team to set a big first-innings target while also batting brilliantly right through. Later, KL Rahul (24) and Hardik Pandya (27) were also on hand with some vital knocks that helped India set up a challenging total.
India heads to the semi-finals as a result of this victory, where they face off against England. Leading the Indian bowling attack were Arshdeep Singh (3/37) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/24), proving that they were indeed a well-rounded bowling force.
Meanwhile at another game, earlier in the day South Africa secured a comfortable win against the West Indies at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, chasing a modest target of 136. Porteas lead his team to victory with three wickets in hands, accompanied with a well-paced knockout from Aiden Markram (54) and David Miller (38*). Tabraiz Shamsi caused damage to the batting line-up by scooping three wickets for 20 runs only.
This win secured South Africa’s position in the knockout stages, where they now wait to play against either Afghanistan or Bangladesh depending on today’s result.
