Mumbai, June 25: Coming in to the match against Australia at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 on Monday, Rohit Sharma had been dismissed by Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saurabh Netravalkar, and Fazalhaq Farooqi (along with Shakib al Hasan). All of them left-arm bowlers, three of those pacers. It was no secret that Rohit – in his quest to be aggressive at the top of the order – was perishing going after what has been a long-term weakness. But the difference from his dismissals in the past, and his dismissals in this tournament, was the intent. He wasn’t necessarily getting beaten by lateral movement or failing to read the left-arms pacers. It was mostly good intent but poor shot execution.
At the Darren Sammy Stadium, though, he converted that intent into an extraordinary passage of play against Mitchell Starc.
After being left out for the match against Afghanistan, Starc was brought into Australia’s XI against India, a tie they were treating as a virtual quarterfinal. So of course, they went to their left-arm pacer who has a knack of turning up in these big games. Rohit was scratchy in the first over, even as Starc struggled to find any real movement. The Indian captain missed out on a full toss first ball, then poked at a wide overpitched delivery.
But as Starc ran in for his second over, Rohit teed off. First two balls, overpitched outside off stump, were smashed over cover for sixes. The first travelling a bit more than the second that crashed into the ropes on the full. The third ball was a mishit slog that did enough to clear the fielder at mid on, as Rohit cleared his front foot. Then came perhaps the shot of the over, off the fifth ball as he sent the ball soaring over midwicket to leave Starc muttering under his breath as he walked back. To rub salt into his wounds, the last ball went for a streaky six off a full toss behind the stumps. 29 runs off the over, and just like that, it felt like Rohit was carrying on from where he left off on that day in Ahmedabad in November.
