What happened the last time India played Australia in a T20 World Cup clash?
Cricketing giants India and Australia are set to lock horns in the penultimate match of the T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eights. The two teams will square off at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia, on Monday, June 24, at 8:00 PM IST.
Though India and Australia played a warm-up match at the previous edition of the T20 World Cup, the two haven’t faced each other in the league phase for the past two seasons. The last time the Men in Blue played the Men in Yellow in a 20-over World Cup match was in 2016 in India (ICC World T20).
It was the 31st match of the tournament and a fixture of the Super 10 Group 2 hosted by the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh. Australian skipper Steve Smith won the toss and opted to put up a target for the hosts to chase.
The Aussies had a decent run with the bat as they put up 160/6 on the scoreboard, and opener Aaron Finch emerged as their top run-scorer with a 34-ball 43. The Indian bowlers kept striking at regular intervals and broke Australia’s momentum in the innings.
While Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Yuvraj Singh picked up one wicket each, Hardik Pandya scalped two but conceded 36 runs. Ravindra Jadeja couldn’t pick a wicket but was economical, giving away 20 runs in his three overs.
Virat Kohli’s charisma with the bat puts aside all other worries
India faced a double blow in the powerplay while chasing, as openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were dismissed cheaply in the fourth and sixth overs, respectively. The middle-order batters too struggled to get going but Virat Kohli ended up playing one of the most memorable knocks of his career.
The former India captain, to date, ranks his knock at Mohali among one of the finest that he has played in the format, and it was indeed special.
When the other batters failed to gain momentum, Kohli found the gaps frequently and went for the big shots. He hit nine fours and a couple of sixes in his unbeaten 51-ball 82-run knock. Kohli unleashed the beast within when he took on opposition bowlers James Faulkner and Nathan Coulter-Nile in the death overs.
After hitting Faulkner for two fours and a six to take the 18th over’s total to 19 runs, Kohli hit four fours in the next over off Coulter-Nile to accumulate 16 runs. Not much was left to be done, as the then-skipper MS Dhoni finished off the chase with a boundary on the first delivery of the final over as India clinched a six-wicket win.
An overwhelmed and emotional Kohli bagged the Player of the Match award for his magical 82*(51) as India confirmed their place in the semi-final with the win. The Indian team ended up losing their knockout clash against eventual champions West Indies.