Skipper Rohit Sharma conjured a match-winning knock to propel India to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup on Monday and the timing of his return to form could not be any better.
The white-ball stalwart went into the Super Eight Group 1 match against Australia with scores of 13, three, eight and 23 in his previous four innings.
As if to prove a point, Rohit put on a show with a 41-ball 92 that powered India to an imposing 205-5, their highest total in the tournament.
Perhaps aware of murmurs about his susceptibility against left-arm seamers, Rohit smashed Mitchell Starc for four sixes in a 29-run over to throw the bowler out of the attack.
To stop the batting carnage, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh handed the ball to Pat Cummins, who claimed a hat trick in each of his last two outings.
Rohit welcomed Cummins by hitting the first ball from the bowler to the roof of the stand en route to a 19-ball fifty, the fastest by any batter in this year’s tournament.
“Rohit Sharma got them off to an absolute flyer,” Australia skipper Marsh said after a loss that placed them on the brink of elimination.
“We’ve seen for 15 years that when he’s in that mode, it’s very hard to stop. I’m going to give some credit to him.”
Playing potentially his last T20 World Cup, 37-year-old Rohit clobbered eight sixes and it was not mindless slogging either.
“That’s what I have to do at the top of the order, try and see what the bowlers are trying to do and play accordingly,” Rohit said of his role in the batting lineup.
While a strong breeze blew across the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, Rohit’s spectacular display of fearless hitting knocked the wind out of Australia’s sails.
“You got to open up all sides of the field, not just be one-dimensional,” Rohit said of his batting approach.
“That is something that was going through my mind all through. I was thinking to hit the ball everywhere possible.
“When you keep an open mind, and not think about just playing one shot, you can access all sides of the field and that is something that I was trying to do.”
Rohit says the team will continue with the same aggressive approach against England in the semifinal on Thursday.
“We want to play the same way, understand what the individuals need to do in a given situation, and play freely,” he said.
“So far we’ve been doing that consistently, and semi-finals, we have to try and do the same thing.
“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.”