India has entered the semi-finals of the T-20 World Cup after beating Australia by 24 runs. They will now face England on June 27. In Group 1, they are at the top with six points. India has won all matches in the Super-8 stage. Batting first, India made 205/5. Rohit Sharma led from the front and scored 92 off 41 balls. Suryakumar Yadav made 31 while Hardik Pandya made an unbeaten 27. For Australia, Travis Head was the top scorer with 76 off 43 balls.
After the match Rohit Sharma said, “It's quite satisfying, especially when you play like that. We knew the threat of this opposition, but we kept doing the things we know best, and we can take a lot of confidence from that. 200 is obviously a good score, but when you're playing on grounds like this where wind is a factor, anything is possible, but I thought we used the conditions very well. It was very pleasing to see how we were getting through those overs and getting the wickets at the same time.”
Talking about Kuldeep Yadav and not playing him in the matches played in USA, Sharma said, “We understand the strengths he has, but you have to use it when you need it. The pitches in New York were seamer-friendly, but we knew he would play a big role later.”
On playing knockout stage now, Sharma said, “We don't want to do anything different [in the knockouts], we want to play the same way, understand what the individuals need to do in a given situation, and play freely. So far we've been doing that consistently, and semi-finals, we have to try and do the same thing. It'll be nice [to play England]. Nothing changes for us, we want to focus on what we can do as a team, and take the game on.”
On his own batting, Sharma said, “I thought right from over no. 1, there was a strong breeze blowing across. They changed their plan, bowling against the breeze, so I realised I had to open up the off side as well. You've got to factor in the breeze, and understand that the bowlers are smart as well, and open up all sides of the field. When you keep an open mind and not just think of one shot, you can access all areas of the field.”
