‘Australia had ruined our…’: Rohit Sharma on iconic T20 WC 2024 win against 50-over champions

MUMBAI: India ODI skipper Rohit Sharma opened up and shared his thoughts on the rivalry between Men in Blue and Australia in the major ICC tournaments.

The Men in Yellow defeated the Rohit Sharma-led side in the 50-over World Cup in the 2023 finals by six wickets, which was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19.

Next year, in 2024, during the T20 World Cup in West India, Team India registered a 24-run victory over the Australian side in the Super Eight of the competition on June 24. This win helped the Indian side to advance to the semi-final of the tournament.

Speaking on taking revenge from the Pat Cummins-led side, Rohit said in an interview on JioHotstar, “Australia had ruined our and the whole country’s November 19 in the ODI WC Final, so we should also give them a gift. These kinds of things were talked about in the dressing room. We had it in our minds that if we win this match, Australia will be out of this T20 World Cup.”

Further, Rohit Sharma spoke about his knock against Australia during the T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eight game, where he slammed 92 runs off just 41 balls, which was laced with eight maximums and seven boundaries in his innings. The right-hand batter smashed runs at a whopping strike rate of 224.39

“When I stepped out to play against Australia in the 2024 T20 World Cup, all I had in my mind was that I had to score somehow. I had to perform well against them and score runs against them. I was looking to attack against each and every Australian bowler,” he added.

On June 29 last year in Barbados, India ended an 11-year-long ICC Trophy drought, beating South Africa by seven runs to capture the ICC T20 World Cup title for the second time. This was Rohit’s second ICC T20 WC title and his first ICC title as a captain, after the heartbreak of losing to Australia in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at home following a ten-match win streak. (ANI)