T20 WC: India beat Australia by 24 runs, march unbeaten into final four

Skipper Rohit Sharma, with his 92 off 41 knock, headlined India's unbeaten march into the final four of the T20 World Cup with a comprehensive victory over Australia at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Saint Lucia.

Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Besides Rohit Sharma (92 off 41), Suryakumar Yadav (31 from 16), Shivam Dube (28 from 22) and Hardik Pandya (27* from 17) were the other major contributors as India put up a total of 205 for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs, with Josh Hazlewood comfortably the pick of the bowlers with 1/14 and an economy rate of 3.50 – the only Australian bowler with single-figure economy across the innings.

Image courtesy: Facebook/BCCI

However, Virat Kohli had another bad day today as he was dismissed for a duck (0 from 5) – for the second time in the ongoing tournament.

For Australia, Mitchell Starc and Marcus Stoinis took two wickets each.

Chasing 206, Australia lost David Warner's wicket (6 from 6) on the last ball of the very first over.

Australia had recovered well though and were up with the required rate for long parts of the innings, and credit largely goes to Travis Head and his excellent 76 (43).

Head formed dangerous partnerships with both Mitchell Marsh (37) and Glenn Maxwell (20), only for Kuldeep Yadav to dismiss both, cleaning up Maxwell and accounting for Marsh thanks to a brilliant boundary catch by Axar Patel.

Jasprit Bumrah returned to remove Head and Australia swung hard but with little hope from thereon as they fell short of their target. 

India limited Australia to 181/7 to beat them by 24 runs, leaving Aussies' World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the Man of the Match award.

Australia’s fate to reach the semis now lies in Afghanistan’s hands.

Afghanistan could now qualify for the final four if they beat Bangladesh in the final match in the Super Eight stage on Tuesday (June 25).

A huge margin of victory for Bangladesh in that match could yet see the Tigers qualify for the semi-finals on NRR, while Australia would progress despite two defeats if Bangladesh register a narrow victory, leaving all three sides tied on two points.

India, however, will take on England in the semi-final on Thursday (June 27).