Rohit, Virat take India to record 184/3 vs Australia

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli smashed their way to a half-century each as India posted a record 184 for three against Australia in the second T20 International, here today.

The two in-form batsmen continued with their blazing form as Rohit struck a fluent 60 off 47 balls while Kohli hit a scintillating 59 not out off only 33 balls. The total is highest by any team at the MCG in Twenty20 Internationals.

Rohit's innings was studded with five fours and two sixes. Kohli on the otherhand hit seven fours and a six.

Australia today made a host of changes with Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Lyon, Andrew Tye, Scott Boland and John Hastings coming into the side in place of David Warner, Steve Smith, Cameron Boyce, Travis Head, Kane Richardson and Shaun Tait, who will be preparing for the New Zealand series.

Rohit and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (42 off 32 balls) got off to a slow start with Shane Watson (0-17) and Andrew Tye (1-28) opening proceedings for Australia.

Aaron Finch made a lot of bowling changes initially in a bid to try a bit of mix and match up and it worked for a little bit as only 12 runs came off the first 3 overs.
But the two batsmen opened up thereafter, playing shots all over the park as the run-rate shot up.

Despite the slow start, they brought up the 50-mark in the 6th over. They continued to push on and India closed up on the 100-mark in the 11th over itself, when Dhawan was caught trying to reverse-sweep Glenn Maxwell (1-17). It didn’t stop Rohit though and he brought up his 8th T20I fifty off 37 balls in the next over.

At the other end, Kohli started off from where he had left in Adelaide, up and running in no time. He took the onus of scoring on himself, and hit John Hastings (0-35) for three boundaries in the 13th over, the bowler suffering throughout the innings.

The duo put up 46 runs for the 2nd wicket in no time, scoring at 9-plus per over during the five overs they batted together.

But against the run of play, Rohit was run-out in the 16th over, as Kohli refused a second run after hitting the ball to the deep. India were placed at 143/2 at the end of the 16th over then, as skipper MS Dhoni (14) walked in to provide the final flourish.

The two batsmen upped the ante further as the run-rate didn't come down below the 9-per-over mark, adding 38 runs off just 22 balls, pushing the score past the par-score on a relatively slower wicket than Adelaide.

In the meantime, Kohli completed his 11th T20I fifty off only 29 balls, in the 20th over, his second successive fifty of the series and his sixth 50-plus score in seven innings on this tour.

10 runs came off the last over, and 41 off the last four, as Dhoni was caught at long-off off Tye while India coasted to a big finish. Suresh Raina (0 not out) was the unbeaten batsman, while Scott Boland (0-30), James Faulkner (0-35) and Nathan Lyon (0-15) were the other bowlers used.