India's T20 World Cup triumph is incomplete without Rohit Sharma. And Rohit's contributions cannot be aptly summed up without the mention of his 92-run epic against Australia in India's Super Eight game at St. Lucia. Against the reigning ODI World Champions, the Indian captain batted like a man possessed, almost as if the wounds of November 19 were still fresh in his mind. Rohit struck seven fours and eight sixes – four of which came in one Mitchell Starc over – that set the tempo for India's strong finish of 205/5.

Rohit followed it with another crucial fifty against England in the next game – the semi-final – but the skipper's hammering of Australia could well have been the knock of the tournament. And that it came against a bowler of Starc's calibre is what makes the innings extra special. India were 6/1 after two overs, before Rohit's carnage opened the floodgates as Australia fell short by 24 runs and eventually crashed out following a loss to Afghanistan. Opening up on that harrowing over, Starc revealed that Rohit took advantage of the wind factor, but at the same time had no shame admitting that he bowled poorly to the India captain.

"I've played a lot against him. He had a good tournament, especially in our game. I think he targetted that wind in St. Lucia as well. If you look at the runs from each end, one end went for a lot more than the other. I bowled from that end. I bowled five bad balls and he hit them all for six," the Aussie pacer said on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.

Rohit began the assault by smashing a couple of juicy half-volleys over extra cover before going down on one knee and depositing Mitchell Starc over cow corner. Off the last ball of the over, Starc erred in length and sent down a full toss, which Rohit top-edged for a six. In between, Rohit drilled a boundary down the ground to make it 29 off the over.

Starc on why the Australian innings fell apart

Starc eventually castled Rohit in his second spell, but not before getting clattered for a fifth six. As it turns out, Rohit's innings set the mood and along with contributions from Suryakumar Yadav (31), Shivam Dube (28) and Hardik Pandya (unbeaten 27), India posted a huge target to the 2021 T20 world champions.

Australia looked on course when Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh went on a six-hitting spree, but Axar Patel's unbelievable one-handed catch near the boundary to dismiss the Aussie captain and Jasprit Bumrah's slower ball to finally send back India's nemesis, Head, allowed India to close in and pick up a sweet revenge-filled victory.

"We thought it was a little bit over par, but it was the best wicket in the World Cup which we played on in terms of runs scored. It wasn't probably the quickest wicket in the West Indies but definitely the best wicket which we played on. Certainly chaseable. We were on target for a while but a couple of hiccups and some good bowling from them set us back," added Starc.

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