The hero of India’s victory was ‘Hitman’ Rohit Sharma himself. The mood he had on Monday is more or less what he had before going into the final match at Ahmedabad in World Cup. But Travis Head took his catch making his innings short-lived.
On Monday, when India played Australia, there was a live volcano in the small town of Soufriere some 55 kilometers away. When it spits smoke and gas are released from its mouth or crater it feels like the mountains are mad at you. It looked like all those who cheered for India at the Darren Sammy International Stadium on Monday were like that volcano turned into a human being. No one could just erase Ahmedabad, November 19 — the day Australia stole ODI World Cup from India last year — it’s time to give back.
On Thursday, however, England will play India on this spinner-friendly track in Guyana while Australia’s fate is not in their hands: they would be out if Afghanistan beat Bangladesh or if Bangladesh wins by a big margin.
There was nothing inexplicable here in St Lucia to hamper Rohit as he batted through the best innings thus far of this World Cup. That set up Rohit’s 92 off 41 balls which anchored India’s total of 205 for 5 after they were sent in by Australia and shocked them completely.
Virat Kohli (0) once again did not succeed, and for the following ten overs or so, it became a complete Rohit show. It all started when Mitchell Starc bowled the first ball of the third over, which was meant to be full and that went for six over cover.
In that same over, 29 was score by Rohit with four sixes and a four, swinging the tide in India’s favor. He didn’t know who was bowling; he just had to attack. Whatever fell into his hitting range went over the top while those landing short were pull with force. This was only because Rohit had an open mind during this slaughter.
Dominance by Rohit was illustrate by the fact that India were 52-1 in the sixth over when he reached his half-century. This kind of an innings as a topping, deserved a century but Starc, returning for his second spell, eventually bowled a yorker which hit the inside edge of Rohit’s bat and knocked the stumps over
With Rohit gone after just 11.2 overs, the score read 127. The next fifty balls saw India make only 78 runs showing that scoring probably wasn’t as easy as Rohit made it look. However, India did manage to make enough runs.
Unfortunately the Australians did not have any additional moments of brilliance despite Head’s sensational 76 off just 43 balls and Indian bowlers bore that brunt. At some stage during their run-chase, there were points where it appeared as if they might actually make it. Yet deep in the innings, the spells of left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (2-24) stopped Australia on its tracks.
Kuldeep was greatly help by a stunning one-handed catch from Axar Patel at deep square-leg to send back Mitchell Marsh for three, which really turned things around.
This was still not enough to discourage him but with wickets tumbling at the other end showed that he had become an impatient batsman. In his second over, he edged out Head and fittingly Rohit took a skyer. The rest was mere formality.
