Rampaging Rohit guides India into World Cup semis

India marched into the T20 World Cup semi-finals yesterday as skipper Rohit Sharma’s blistering 92 set up a 24-run victory over Australia, left on the brink of elimination.
Rohit clobbered eight sixes in his 41-ball blitz to lay the foundation for India’s imposing 205-5, their highest total in the tournament, in Gros Islet, St Lucia.
Travis Head led Australia’s chase with a belligerent 76 but India restricted them to 181-7 to remain unbeaten in the tournament and set up a semi-final against defending champions England in Guyana on Thursday.
The Super Eight clash between two former champion teams had assumed greater importance after Afghanistan stunned Australia on Saturday to throw Group 1 wide open.
Rohit has not been in the best of form but the India captain forced Starc out of the attack by hitting the fast bowler for four sixes in a 29-run over.
“There was a strong breeze. They changed their plan, so I had to open up the other side of the field,” the player of the match said.
“It was a good wicket, and you want to try and back yourself to play those kinds of shots. I’ve been trying to do that for a few years now, and I’m glad it came off today.
“You’ve got to factor in the breeze, and understand that the bowlers are smart as well, and open up all sides of the field. When you keep an open mind and not just think of one shot, you can access all areas of the field.
“The fifties and hundreds don’t matter, I wanted to bat with the same tempo and carry on. You want to make big scores, yes, but at the same time you want to make the bowlers think where the next shot is coming, and I think I managed to do that today,” Rohit added.
“It’s quite satisfying, especially when you play like that. We knew the threat of this opposition, but we kept doing the things we know best, and we can take a lot of confidence from that. (A score of) 200 is obviously a good score, but when you’re playing on grounds like this where wind is a factor, anything is possible, but I thought we used the conditions very well.
“It was very pleasing to see how we were getting through those overs and getting the wickets at the same time. Kuldeep, we understand the strengths he has, but you have to use it when you need it.
“The pitches in New York were seamer-friendly, but we knew he would play a big role later. We don’t want to do anything different (in the knockouts), we want to play the same way, understand what the individuals need to do in a given situation, and play freely
“So far we’ve been doing that consistently, and semi-finals, we have to try and do the same thing.
“It’ll be nice (to play England). Nothing changes for us, we want to focus on what we can do as a team, and take the game on,” the Indian skipper added.
Josh Hazlewood had drawn first blood as he bounced out Virat Kohli for a duck after Australia elected to field.
Pat Cummins, who had claimed back-to-back hat-tricks in his last two games, was pressed into service to end the batting carnage.
Rohit greeted the seamer by depositing his first ball on the roof of the stadium for a monster six, en route to a 19-ball fifty.
India raced to the 100-mark in the ninth over but Starc returned to deny Rohit what could have been the first hundred by a batter in this tournament. Suryakumar Yadav (31) and Shivam Dube (28) produced breezy cameos and Hardik Pandya made 27 not out to propel India to their first 200-plus total of the tournament.
Arshdeep Singh rattled Australia by removing David Warner in the first over in what could be the opener’s last game in an Australia shirt. Skipper Mitchell Marsh (37) joined Head and they counter-attacked to put Australia’s chase back on track.
Axar Patel leapt to take a stunning one-handed catch at deep square leg to dismiss Marsh but Head raced to a 24-ball fifty.
Kuldeep Yadav castled the dangerous Glenn Maxwell (20) and Jasprit Bumrah effectively sealed India’s victory when he dismissed Head with a clever change of pace.
“It’s so disappointing. We know we still have a chance to make the semis but today, India got the better of us,” Marsh said. “They got off to a flyer, Rohit Sharma is very hard to stop when he’s in that mode. He deserves all the credit for that.”

BRIEF SCORES
India 205-5, 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 92, Suryakumar Yadav 31; Mitchell Starc 2-45, Marcus Stoinis 2-56) v Australia 181-7, 20 overs (Travis Head 76, Mitchell Marsh 37; Arshdeep Singh 3-37, Kuldeep Yadav 2-24)
Toss: Australia
Result: India won by 24 runs