T20 WORLD CUP: Australia lose to India and hand Afghanistan the controls to claim semi-final spot

India moved into fifth gear to beat Australia by 24 runs in the final T20 World Cup Super 8 game for both nations on Monday evening, racking up 205/5 off their 20 overs. Rohit Sharma was in top form, smashing 92 off 41 balls.

READ: T20 World Cup: Proteas through to World Cup semi-finals after another nail-biter

Australia put up a strong chase but struggled as they lost wickets, ending on 181/7. The result sent India through to the semi-finals and has put Afghanistan in control of their fate: if Afghanistan beat Bangladesh (or if they get a point for an abandoned match) on Tuesday morning, then they will go through to the semi-final against South Africa.

“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,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma said.

“You want to make big scores, yes, but at the same time you want to make the bowlers think where the next shot is coming, and I think I managed to do that today. It was very pleasing to see how we were getting through those overs and getting the wickets at the same time.

“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. 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.”

“Today India got the better of us. It’s disappointing, but there is still technically a chance to go through. I think over the course of 40 overs there’s a lot of small margins but, honestly, India were the better team,” said a disappointed Australian skipper, Mitchell Marsh.

“We’ve seen for 15 years what Rohit Sharma can do in that kind of mood, and he got off to an absolute flier. In a run chase like that, you’re in it if you can keep it at tens for as long as possible, but India were too good for us. Come on, Bangladesh!”