The Australia National Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Super 8 match was played on Monday, June 24. The high-octane match between Rohit Sharma-led side and Mitchell Marsh-led side was hosted by the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia.
The Australian team headed into the clash against the Men In Blue on the back of a major and shock defeat at the hands of the Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan National Cricket Team. Everyone expected Australia to comprehensively beat the Afghans at the Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent and book a place in the semi-finals, but that didn't happen.
Australia started off the match by winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Despite not bowling well initially and allowing Afghanistan to build a 118-run opening stand, Australia managed to restrict the opposition to a total of 148/6.
Pat Cummins was the chief architect behind the destruction as he bagged his second hat-trick of the T20 World Cup 2024 and created history with his performance. Adam Zampa also picked 2 wickets while Marcus Stoinis got 1 wicket.
Australia needed a good start in the match if they wanted to chase down the target against Afghanistan but Travis Head, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh failed to perform and took a long walk back to the pavilion after registering low scores.
Then, the responsibility fell on explosive batter Glenn Maxwell to once again lead his team to a win just like he did in the ODI World Cup 2023 when he played one of the greatest knocks in cricket history to steer Australia to an epic win over the Afghans. However, he wasn't able to do that and was dismissed for 59. The rest of the Aussie batters also failed to bring out their A-game and Australia were bundled out for 127 runs in 19.2 overs, facing a shock 21-run loss.
Coming back to the IND vs AUS clash, the Aussies opted to bowl first and removed Virat Kohli for a duck. However, after that, they had to deal with the Rohit Sharma assault as the Indian skipper took the bowlers to the cleaners and smashed 92 runs. In the last few overs, Australia did make a small comeback and made run-scoring slow to restrict India to 205/5. Mitchell Starc and Marcus Stoinis picked two wickets each while Josh Hazlewood bowled a spell of 1/14.
India were the better team, Rohit is a class player - Mitchell Marsh
Chasing the target in the match, David Warner failed to score big but his opening partner Travis Head once again demolished the Indian bowling attack. He smashed 76 runs but didn't get the support from the other end. Eventually, Australia were restricted to 181/7 and they lost the match by 24 runs. Now, their semi-final qualification hopes are in jeopardy.
Speaking after the match, Australian captain Mitchell Marsh stated that they were disappointed to lose the game, but accepted the fact that it happens in the game of cricket. He lauded India captain Rohit Sharma for his fantastic knock and also labeled Indian bowlers as 'too good'. Mitchell Marsh signed off by expressing his support for Bangladesh ahead of their last match against Afghanistan as a small win of the Bangla Tigers over the Afghans will help Australia seal a semi-final spot. Mitchell Marsh stated:
"Disappointing. It happens in the game of cricket. In the course of 40 overs, there are a lot of small margins. India were the better team, Rohit is a class player.
"(On Head and Maxwell's batting) Gave us more belief than hope. In a run chase like that, if you keep it at 10 an over, we are in the game. India's bowlers were too good though in the end. Come on, Bangladesh now!"
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