Indian captain Rohit Sharma scored an explosive 92 runs off 41 balls, including eight sixes, against Australia in the Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup 2024, at Saint Lucia, on Monday.
He missed out on a well-deserved century after giving his team a blistering start, batting at strike rate of over 220, but he was bowled in just the 12th over by a Mitchell Starc yorker.
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His aggressive knock turned out to be the difference in the end as India won the match by 24 runs, despite Australia opener Travis Head's 76 run-inning in the chase.
After the match, Rohit insisted that milestones do not matter to him and that he would rather see his team winning the match than to see a fifty or hundred against his name.
'50s, 100s don't matter to me' - Why Rohit Sharma puts his team winning over personal milestones?
The Indian skipper came into this match against Australia on the back of just a less-than-impressive run of form with 4 scores under 25, and a fifty against Ireland. However, the third over of the match changed everything.
Mitchell Starc who had conceded just 5 runs in the opening over, was smacked for 29 runs in the third over by the Hitman. Rohit hit four sixes and a four against the left-arm quick. There was no looking back once he regained his confidence and flow of timing the ball.
He was dismissed in the 12th over when India was 127/2, scoring at over 11 runs an over. His innings of 92 runs off 41 balls, was crucial for his team to go past the 200-run mark.
Read More: Every T20 World Cup 2024 record that Rohit Sharma created against Australia
Rohit was speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony after winning the 'Player of the Match' award, when he shared his mindset during the match, especially of giving his team quick-fire starts.
“That’s what I have to do (in the powerplay), try and see what the bowlers are doing, play accordingly. They changed their plans and tried to bowl against the breeze. Needed to be smart, was just backing myself to do," he said.
“It has been a good wicket, and you need to back yourself on good wickets, glad that it came off today. I told you that 50s and 100s don’t matter to me. Need to put the bowlers under pressure, and you need big scores for that. I tried to access all sides of the field, not just one side."
Read More: Travis Head's record against India in international cricket
Travis Head, who was the antagonist in the 2023 ODI World Cup Final against India, put together a great partnership with captain Mitchell Marsh, but some stunning fielding and clever bowling from the likes of Kuldeep Yadav (2/24) and Arshdeep Singh (3/37), brought the game back in the Men in Blue's favour.
“We know the opposition and the threat they bring. As a team we did well, kept doing the things we needed to do. Gives us good confidence as a team. 200 is a good score but when you are playing here with wind being a big factor, anything can happen. But I think we used to conditions really well, and it was about individuals doing their job. It was about getting wickets at the right time."
“We know the strength he [Kuldeep] has, but we need to use him when necessary. In New York, there were seamer friendly wickets. He had to miss out, but we knew he had a big role to play out here,” Rohit added, when asked about his team's bowling performance.
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