India easily advanced to the semifinals of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup with a decisive 24-run victory against Australia in their final Super Eight stage match on Monday at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium thanks to a fantastic recovery with the ball from Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh.
Following skipper Rohit Sharma’s devastating 92 off 41 balls to enable India record a massive 205/5, a victory appeared improbable for India when opener Travis Head cleared his front leg and smashed his smashes all over the park in a 43-ball 76.
Arshdeep picked 3-37 and Kuldeep took 2-24, including the dismissal of Glenn Maxwell, to limit Australia to 181/7 in 20 overs.
Australia’s destiny in the semifinals is now sealed; should Afghanistan defeat Bangladesh at St. Vincent, they would be eliminated from the tournament. David Warner, who was chasing 205, was caught off guard by Arshdeep’s diving first slip and went for six.
Mitchell Marsh was dropped on five after Arshdeep was unable to take a catch on his follow-through, and he survived on zero as Rishabh Pant stumbled while chasing a catch off the draw. Marsh then started hitting boundaries, first hitting Arshdeep for two fours before completing the third over with an enormous drawn six.
Head slashed and pulled Jasprit Bumrah for two fours before slamming a full toss for four through point to join the boundary-hitting frenzy. Australia concluded the Power-play at 65/1 after Marsh pounded Axar Patel for four and six, respectively, and Head lofted and heaved Hardik Pandya for two sixes. Head continued to deal in boundaries, effortlessly drawing in a six and smashing a four over Hardik’s head.
However, Kuldeep broke the 81-run partnership for the second wicket under intense duress when Marsh went down to sweep, but Axar perfectly timed his jump at deep square leg and extended his right hand to scoop the ball out of thin air.
Maxwell sent off a pyrotechnics display as he skillfully touched the short third man to the boundary to take four off Ravindra Jadeja’s opening ball. He then executed two daring reverse sweeps, going for four and six, respectively, after that. Following that, India recovered magnificently.
Maxwell attempted to take on Kuldeep by going down the pitch to chop across the line, but the googly left his stumps in a messy state. Marcus Stoinis attempted a reverse sweep off Axar in the subsequent over, but backward point caught him on the rebound.
In his comeback, Bumrah tricked Travis Head with a slower ball, heaved to cover, and fell for 76. When Arshdeep returned, he quickly caught Tim David and Matthew Wade by the short third man, effectively winning the game for India.
Brief Scores:
India 205/5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 92, Suryakumar Yadav 31; Mitchell Starc 2-45, Marcus Stoinis 2-56) beat Australia 181/7 in 20 overs(Travis Head 76, Mitchell Marsh 37; Arshdeep Singh 3-37, Kuldeep Yadav 2-24) by 24 runs