Rampaging Rohit leads India into the semi-finals, Australia on the brink
India advanced to the T20 World Cup semi-finals on Monday thanks to skipper Rohit Sharma's blistering 92, which secured a 24-run win over Australia, who are on the verge of elimination.
Rohit clobbered eight sixes in his 41-ball blitz, laying the groundwork for India's imposing 205-5, the tournament's highest total, in Gros Islet, St Lucia.
Travis Head led Australia's chase with a ferocious 76, but India held them to 181-7 to remain unbeaten in the tournament and advance to a semi-final against defending champions England in Guyana on Thursday.
The Super Eight match between two former champions gained importance after Afghanistan stunned Australia on Saturday, leaving Group 1 wide open.
Afghanistan are certain to make the final four if they defeat Bangladesh later on Monday. If Bangladesh defeat Afghanistan only narrowly, Australia would advance.
Rohit has not been in his best form, but the India captain forced Starc out of the attack by hitting him for four sixes in a 29-run over.
"There was a strong breeze. They changed their plan, so I had to open up the other side of the field," the player of the match said.
"It was a good wicket and you want to back yourself to play those kind of shots. I'm glad it came off very well today."
Josh Hazlewood had drawn first blood when he dismissed Virat Kohli for a duck after Australia chose to field.
Pat Cummins, who had claimed back-to-back hat-tricks in his previous two games, was called up to end the batting carnage.
Rohit greeted the seamer by hitting his first ball on the stadium roof for a monster six, en route to a 19-ball fifty.
India raced to 100 in the ninth over, but Starc returned to deny Rohit what would have been his first century in this tournament.
Suryakumar Yadav (31) and Shivam Dube (28) made breezy cameos, while Hardik Pandya hit 27 not out to propel India to their first 200-plus total of the tournament.
Arshdeep Singh rattled Australia by dismissing David Warner in the first over of what could be the opener's final game in an Australian jersey.
Skipper Mitchell Marsh (37) joined Head in a counter-attack, putting Australia's chase back on track.
Axar Patel leapt to take a stunning one-handed catch at deep square leg, dismissing Marsh, but Head raced to a 24-ball fifty.
Kuldeep Yadav dismissed the dangerous Glenn Maxwell (20), and Jasprit Bumrah effectively sealed India's victory with a clever change of pace to dismiss Head.
"It's so disappointing. We know we still have a chance to make the semis but today, India got the better of us," Marsh said.
"They got off to a flyer, Rohit Sharma is very hard to stop when he's in that mode. He deserves all the credit for that."
SportsLigue