Rohit Sharma hammers Australia into submission with a record fifty

After a string of low scores, Rohit Sharma found his touch with a 41-ball 92 in the 11th Super 8 match against Australia on Monday (June 24). He hammered eight sixes and seven fours in his knock that helped India off to a quickfire start.

In the process, he completed his fifty in the fifth over, becoming only the fourth batter to notch up a fifty inside the powerplay in the T20 World Cup history. Reaching the landmark in 19 balls, Rohit also registered the fastest fifty of this World Cup, which has generally helped the bowlers, except in St Lucia, the venue for this clash. Also, it is the fastest of Rohit’s career in T20Is. 

Rohit took on Mitchell Starc in the third over to accelerate towards his half-century, the 31st of his T20I career. He smashed the Aussie seamer for 29 runs, including four sixes and a four, apart from a wide. 

The left-arm pacers have been Rohit’s Achilles’ heel. He has been dismissed by them 24 times in T20Is, averaging only 22.3 before today, his lowest against any bowling type in this format. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, he has been out three times to left-arm pace. 

Hence, Mitchell Starc vs Rohit Sharma was a match-up to watch out for in this important fixture. However, with no swing on offer in St Lucia, Rohit made light work of Australia’s premier left-arm pacer. 

He began the third over, Starc’s second, with back-to-back sixes over the covers. Starc pitched both deliveries full and outside the off stump but having assessed the lack of lateral movement, Rohit smashed them both over covers.

On the next two balls, the 37-year-old targetted the on-side, slogging a four over mid-on and then timing a six over mid-wicket. The right-hander got lucky on the final delivery, top-edging a pull that went for the maximum. It was the second-most expensive over by an Australian in T20Is, after Glenn Maxwell’s 30-run over against Ruturaj Gaikwad in 2023. 

The over came right after Virat Kohli’s dismissal for a duck in the previous over, making Rohit’s counter-attack against his negative match-up more significant. 

Later, he tore into Marcus Stoinis. Seeing the part-time pacer in action, Rohit struck three successive boundaries — two sixes and a four. By the end of the eighth over, the Hitman had eight sixes to his name alone. 

Rohit was eventually knocked over by Starc only in the 12th over. However, he had already dealt the killer blow to Australia, who need to win this contest to advance into the semi-finals and not rely on other results. At the end of the powerplay, India were 60/1, their highest powerplay score this World Cup and the third highest overall. Rohit scored 51 of those. 

Later, India notched up their hundred in only 8.4 overs. 

The knock also brought back memories of the 2010 T20 World Cup, when a 23-year-old Rohit struck an unbeaten 79 against Australia in the West Indies. Rohit now has 171 runs against Australia in T20Is in the Caribbean off only 87 deliveries (strike rate 196.6), including 14 sixes. 

While that was a valiant effort in a losing cause, this knock can well knock Australia out of the World Cup. 

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