Shoaib Akhtar, a former Pakistani fast bowler, has shown his admiration for Rohit Sharma’s mind-blowing batting when India defeated Australia in a ‘Super 8s’ match of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Monday.
Through this video post from X handle, Akhtar highlighted India’s slide from disappointment into domination after their loss to Australia during the ODI World Cup final last year.
“That depression that India had after losing the last World Cup final, the one they deserved to win…that depression has now turned into obsession that we have to beat Australia here. Then Rohit Sharma did what he should have done, played with such intent. Rohit ne kya fainti lagayi hai Mitchell Starc ki (Rohit completely annihilated Starc). My heart wanted Rohit Sharma to score 150 today,” said Akhtar passionately in the video.
India’s victory by 24 runs was orchestrated by Rohit who made a brilliant knock of 92 runs off just 41 balls. It was Rohits aggressive approach that gave India a flying start allowing them make a challenging total of 205 for five.
In spite of early hiccups like Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant falling quickly, Sharma maintained his presence at the wicket which ensured that India kept track towards amassing large totals.
Facing an uphill task in pursuit of the target, Australia lost their way amidst low scoring rates as they finished at 181 for 7. However Travis Head got some fight into Australian innings through his bat scoring 76 runs but that wasn’t enough to go past disciplined Indian bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah.
The team led by Rohit Sharma will play England in the second semi-final at Guyana on Thursday.
