Josh Hazlewood kneels down and salutes Rohit Sharma after the Indian captain smokes Australia awau

Rohit Sharma’s knock of 92 off 41 balls turned out to be the deciding factor as India defeated Australia by 24 runs to qualify for the T20 World Cup semi-final for the second time in a row. They will now face England in the second semi-final in Guyana on June 27.

Rohit batted strongly at the other end while all the other Indian batters struggled. Virat Kohli was out for a duck and contributions from Suryakumar Yadav (31), Shivam Dube (28) and Hardik Pandya (27 off 17) took India to 205 in the end. 

Some disciplined bowling from the Indian bowlers helped them be in the game take it deep and eventually win it. Travis Head’s wicket in the 17th over by Jasprit Bumrah was a major turning point in the game. Kuldeep Yadav also played his part in picking up Glenn Maxwell. 

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Seen Rohit Sharma Do It A Few Times Now: Josh Hazlewood

After the match, Josh Hazlewood in his post-match press conference spoke about Rohit Sharma’s knock. Rohit scored 92 runs from 41 balls at a strike rate of 224.39. He slammed 7 fours and 8 sixes during his time on the crease. He missed out on his century but laid a brilliant platform for India to post a big total which they did. The bowlers then did a good job defending it as well. 

“I’ve seen Rohit do that a few times now. Yeah, he’s a world-class player, so if you’re a bit off your game that can happen. It just looked like he obviously targeted that short, sorry the boundary with the wind there for a while and then we probably reacted and then he hit a few the other side as well so he’s a class act and you expect him to do that a couple of times through a tournament,” Hazlewood said on Rohit Sharma’s knock.

Hazlewood further spoke about the pitch in St Lucia and lauded Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav for the way they bowled on that wicket. He also said that India’s total posted was a par score on that wicket. 

“I thought the wicket was – a pretty good wicket it was probably a 190-par score and yeah, they got the other side of it and we went underneath so I thought the chase was well on target for quite a lot of the time there and probably till Kuldeep and Jasprit, their eight overs, probably proved the difference again as they usually do, so but yeah obviously fell apart at the end but the chase was well on target for a long time there,” he added.

Talking about the match summary, Australia won the toss and asked India to bat first. Riding high on Rohit Sharma’s knock, India posted 205/5. Australia in their chase was in it, courtesy of Travis Head (76) and Mitchell Marsh (37). Head’s wicket in the 17th overturned the game around in India’s favor and ultimately they won by 24 runs.

Team India will now take on England in the second semi-final in Guyana on June 27. They have a chance to make it to their third T20 World Cup final.

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