Gros Islet (Saint Lucia), Rohit Sharma combined brute force with elegance in his 92 off 41 balls as India piled up 205 for five against Australia in their final T20 World Cup Super Eights match here on Monday.
On the best batting surface of the tournament, Australia put India into bat and Rohit made the most of the conditions with a sublime knock comprising seven fours and eight sixes, including a record stretching to 200th in the format.
It was the start of something special when Rohit bowled Mitchell Starc for four in the first over of the game.
Virat Kohli (0) at the other end failed to remove Josh Hazlewood in the next over and was caught in the deep.
Leading by example once again, Rohit never took his foot off the pedal and went hammer and tongs against Starc, whose second over fetched as many as 29 runs, the most expensive in the format.
The first two sixes of the over came via a delightful aerial drive over extra cover before he smashed one into the cow corner region. The fourth maximum of the over came through an error that reached behind the stumps.
Rohit did most of the damage in his 87-run stand with number three Rishabh Pant (15 off 14), who welcomed Adam Zampa into the attack with a six over long over.
Australia's trump card ran out of wickets.
Another memorable shot from Rohit's innings was a six with one knee over deep mid-wicket off Pat Cummins in the latter's opener.
Credit must go to India for not allowing any other bowler to adjust to the pace. Rohit got his fifty at the end of the fifth with a single and that was also the fastest of the tournament.
Rohit unleashed a six-over extra cover when Marcus Stoinis came into the attack in the eighth over.
Such was the authority of Rohit's innings that he could pick his spot against all the big-name players. It could have been a deserved 100, but Starc came back to remove the Indian captain with a yorker.
Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 15), Hardik Pandya (27 off 17) and Shivam Dube (28 off 22) also played their part, but India failed to make the most of the last five overs, scoring just 43 runs for the loss of a gate.
Even as his colleagues leaked runs, Josh Hazlewood seemed to be bowling on a different pitch, conceding just 14 runs and taking one wicket in his four overs.
On the best batting surface of the tournament, Australia put India into bat and Rohit made the most of the conditions with a sublime knock comprising seven fours and eight sixes, including a record stretching to 200th in the format.
It was the start of something special when Rohit bowled Mitchell Starc for four in the first over of the game.
Virat Kohli (0) at the other end failed to remove Josh Hazlewood in the next over and was caught in the deep.
Leading by example once again, Rohit never took his foot off the pedal and went hammer and tongs against Starc, whose second over fetched as many as 29 runs, the most expensive in the format.
The first two sixes of the over came via a delightful aerial drive over extra cover before he smashed one into the cow corner region. The fourth maximum of the over came through an error that reached behind the stumps.
Rohit did most of the damage in his 87-run stand with number three Rishabh Pant (15 off 14), who welcomed Adam Zampa into the attack with a six over long over.
Australia's trump card ran out of wickets.
Another memorable shot from Rohit's innings was a six with one knee over deep mid-wicket off Pat Cummins in the latter's opener.
Credit must go to India for not allowing any other bowler to adjust to the pace. Rohit got his fifty at the end of the fifth with a single and that was also the fastest of the tournament.
Rohit unleashed a six-over extra cover when Marcus Stoinis came into the attack in the eighth over.
Such was the authority of Rohit's innings that he could pick his spot against all the big-name players. It could have been a deserved 100, but Starc came back to remove the Indian captain with a yorker.
Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 15), Hardik Pandya (27 off 17) and Shivam Dube (28 off 22) also played their part, but India failed to make the most of the last five overs, scoring just 43 runs for the loss of a gate.
Even as his colleagues leaked runs, Josh Hazlewood seemed to be bowling on a different pitch, conceding just 14 runs and taking one wicket in his four overs.
