RECAP
Follow UsRohit goes berserk in the powerplay (and after that)
Australia made the perfect start by dismissing Virat Kohli for a duck, but little did they know that they were about to be hit by a brutal Rohit Sharma storm. In arguably the best knock of his T20I career, Rohit went BERSERK in the powerplay, as he smashed 51 runs by himself.
28 of these runs came in a single Starc over, where he hammered four sixes.
The skipper eventually finished with 92 (41); India were flying at 127/3 in 11.2 when he departed.
Mitchell Marsh’s butter fingers cost Australia again
From 127/3 in 11.2, Australia relatively pulled things back to 166/4 in 16. They could have tightened the screws further but Mitch Marsh put down Hardik Pandya when the latter was on 4 (6). The drop came back to bite the Aussies as Pandya finished with 27* off 17 balls.
Marsh’s catching has been off in this T20WC. He’s dropped more catches than any other player.
Head sets the tone by taking on Bumrah
Prior to the clash today (June 24), no batter in this T20WC had smashed Bumrah for more than one boundary. He had an economy of 3.4 and was borderline unplayable.
But Head walked out like a man possessed and absolutely tore into Bumrah, going 4 4 0 4 in the right-armer’s second over to set the tone for the chase.
The left-hander then took 17 off Pandya’s first over as Australia racked up 65/1 in the powerplay.
Axar’s screamer ends the Marsh-Head stand
At 87/1 in 8.5 overs, Australia were in pole position in the chase. Marsh (37) and Head (42) had added 81 runs together and were ready to pull the trigger.
This was when Axar Patel jolted the Kangaroos by pulling off an absolute one-handed screamer at deep square leg to break the dangerous stand.
The wicket of the set Marsh reinstilled hope and energy within the Indian side.
Axar, Kuldeep choke Australia and kill the chase
With 81 needed off eight and both Head and Maxwell in the zone, Australia were coasting towards the target. This was when Axar bowled a three-run over in the 13th to tighten the noose.
The pressure Axar created led to Maxwell throwing his wicket away to Kuldeep in the next over. One over later, Axar removed Stoinis to reduce Australia to 135/4.
This three-over phase, which yielded two wickets and just 16 runs, derailed Australia’s chase.
Bumrah then dismissed Head and the Aussies fell short by 24 runs.
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