ST. LUCIA: There’s an active volcano in a small town called Soufriere, about 55 kilometres away from where India were playing Australia on Monday. The fumes that emanate from the eye of the volcano gives one the feeling that the mountains are angry. It seemed that everyone with India in their hearts at the Darren Sammy International Stadium here on Monday were physical representations of that volcano.
No one had forgotten Ahmedabad, November 19 — the day Australia snatched the ODI World Cup from India last year — and it was payback time.
Now, India will play England in the semifinal on the spinner-friendly Guyana track on Thursday while Australia’s fate isn’t in their hands: they are out if Afghanistan beat Bangladesh, or if Bangladesh win big.
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The architect of India’s win was ‘Hitman’
Rohit Sharma
himself. His mood on Monday was something similar to what it was in Ahmedabad in the World Cup final . But his innings had been cut short by an outstanding catch by Travis Head.
Here in St. Lucia, there wasn’t any such otherworldly activity that could stop Rohit as he played the innings of the World Cup so far. It was Rohit’s 92 off 41 balls that was the cornerstone of India’s 205 for 5 which left the Aussies stunned once they had put India in.
After Virat Kohli (0) failed once again, it was a complete Rohit show for the next 10 overs or so. It started with the first ball of the third over by Mitchell Starc, which the left-arm pacer tried to bowl full and Rohit’s slash over cover went for a six.
Rohit smashed four sixes and a four in that over which yielded 29 and swung the momentum in India’s favour. Rohit didn’t care who the bowler was; he just knew he had to go after him. Anything in his hitting range was going over the top while those dropped short were pulled with power. It was Rohit’s uncluttered mindset that was central to this onslaught.
The dominance of Rohit was highlighted by the fact that India were 52-1 in the sixth over when he reached his 50. An innings of this quality deserved a century as a topping, but Starc, coming back for his second spell, finally landed a yorker that hit the inside edge of Rohit’s bat and knocked the stumps over.
When Rohit was dismissed in 11.2 overs, the score was 127. After that, off the 52 balls, India managed 78, which proves that run-scoring probably wasn’t as easy as Rohit made it seem. Still, India managed a score which was big enough.
The Aussies, though, tried with Head (76 off 43 balls) taking life in his hands and going after the Indian bowling. There were periods during their chase when it seemed that the target was actually achievable. But somewhere in the middle, left-arm wrist-spinner
Kuldeep Yadav
(2-24) bowled an outstanding spell that halted the Aussies in their tracks.
Kuldeep was assisted by a brilliant one-handed catch at deep square-leg by Axar Patel to dismiss Aussie No. 3 Mitchell Marsh, which was one of the turning points of the game.
Still, there was a Head to deal with, but with wickets falling at the other end, you could gauge that the swashbuckler was getting impatient. Coming back for his second spell, he induced an edge off Head and it was fitting that Rohit completed a skier. The rest was a formality.
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