India Vs Australia 2019: Top 3 T20I knocks by Rohit Sharma Vs Australia

# 1 His 52 at Sydney in 2016

Kohli and Rohit - The classic pair

This was the third match of the T20I series in India’s tour of Australia in 2016. For India, though the series was done and dusted, the team was keen to win the last T20I at Sydney too and make it 3-0. The reasoning given was that out of the 8 matches( 5 ODIs & 3 T20Is) in that Australian tour, India wanted to get even with a score of 4 all after losing the first 4 ODIs to Australia. By virtue of their win in the last ODI and the first two T20Is, India narrowed down the gap to 4-3. Hence the last T20I at Sydney was not a dead rubber, not for India.

Australia batted first and set a massive target of 198 for India to win. The Indian openers Rohit and Dhawan needed to fire in the powerplay overs if India had any chance of overhauling Australia’s score.

Dhawan gave India that electric start smacking 26 off 9 balls. Dhawan and Rohit Sharma together raided 24 runs in the third over of the innings bowled by Shaun Tait. When Dhawan got out in the 4th over of the innings, the Indian score had reached 46 by then.

Rohit continued in his attacking mood punching Boland and Shane Watson for boundaries. India was well within the required run rate reaching 100 in the 10th over. Rohit Sharma greeted Glenn Maxwell to the bowling crease with a six over mid-wicket. Rohit reached his 50 off 36 balls with 5 fours and one six.

When Rohit got out in the 13th over of the innings, India needed 74 off 45 balls. The required run rate was under control and Rohit had done his job. He had put on 78 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli. India reached the target in dramatic fashion off the last ball of the innings.

India needed 17 off the last over bowled by Andrew Tye. That was when Yuvraj Singh showed his experience belting the first two balls for a four and a six. Raina finished it off with a boundary off the last ball which took India to a 3-0 win.

Though Kohli(50 off 36 balls) and Suresh Raina(49 not out off 25 balls) played their part in making a clean sweep of the T20I series, it was the start given by Rohit Sharma which made all the difference in the difficult run chase.

It was the first time that a team had made a clean sweep of a series against Australia in Australia across all formats. Rohit Sharma’s tremendous form in that entire tour of Australia made that possible for India. Sharma finished the Australian tour with 590 runs in 7 completed innings at an impressive average of 84.

The hitman absolutely is the Emperor of white ball cricket.