Former WC Winner Reveals Shocking Reason Why Australia Lost To India

Former WC Winner Reveals Shocking Reason Why Australia Lost To India

The Australian team celebrating Virat Kohli's wicket (AP)

Australia were grossly under-prepared for the India challenge, while pacer Mitchell Starc virtually ran out of ideas when Rohit Sharma smashed him for 29 runs in an over in their Super Eights match here, said former-cricketer Brad Hogg.

Rohit smashed a 41-ball 92, including 29 runs in an over of Strac, giving India a huge 205-run total to defend. India won by 24 runs to set up a semifinal clash against England.

"I thought they weren't prepared. This is a worry with Mitchell Starc. If the ball is not swinging, he doesn't change his length quickly enough. And he didn't change his length quickly enough to Rohit Sharma as well when he got hit for 29 runs there," Hogg said during Star Sports Press Room.

"There was one moment where Rohit Sharma came out of the wicket. And then you saw Starc turn around. And I don't know whether he said Rohit's hitting with the wind or there's no swing there. That was a moment where I thought Australia were in a lot of trouble."

Hogg added that besides Rohit's blitz, Australia's poor fielding too contributed to their defeat. Australia were eliminated from the World Cup following their loss to India and Afghanistan getting the better of Bangladesh.

"(I knew) They're not going to come back because they were starting just to look at what's going wrong rather than looking for the solutions. So, that's probably where it went wrong. And also, dropping Hardik Pandya, it was an easy catch there for Mitchell Marsh, the skipper, with a couple of overs to go. And I think Hardik scored 22 off the next 10 balls. You can't afford to drop Hardik Pandya when you've just bought your way back into the game. That was also crucial," Hogg said.

Afghanistan upset Australia by 21 runs and then overcame a gritty Bangladesh to move into the semifinals, a feat that left the people in the war-torn nation in frenzy.

"Australia took Afghanistan too lightly. They rocked up. They weren't at their best. They were terrible in the field. They were terrible with the ball. And at the end of the day, Afghanistan deserved to be there rather than Australia.

"Talking about (captain) Mitchell Marsh, he is probably the bro of the team. He's like Andrew Symonds. He has a lot of fun. If there's a little bit of division in the camp, or there's a bit of argy-bargy, he generally lights the load. So, he's that bro. But the other thing is, Pat Cummins probably wasn't a certainty to play in the playing XI of this World Cup," he said.

Now South Africa, England, India and Afghanistan are the four semi-finalists of the T20 World Cup 2024.