India fine-tuned their T20 World Cup preparations with a nine-wicket win over Australia in their final warm-up game in Dubai on Wednesday.
Rohit Sharma (60 retired off 41), captaining the side with Virat Kohli only taking the field to bowl, showed sublime touch alongside opening partner KL Rahul (39 off 31) as India chased down Australia’s 152/5 in 17.5 overs. India had beaten England in their earlier practice game.
Suryakumar Yadav (38 not out off 27) came at No 3 in Kohli’s absence and got valuable time in the middle which should boost his confidence going ahead. Hardik Pandya (14 not out off 8) came at four to finish the game, doing it with a clean hit for six over the bowler’s head.
T20 World Cup, Ind vs Aus warm-up game as it happened: Rohit, Suryakumar guide India to big win
Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were rested but the skipper took the field to bowl a couple of overs in which he conceded 12 runs. He kept things tight with two overs of medium pace but the team management is hoping Pandya will be ready to fill the sixth bowler’s slot during India’s World Cup campaign which begins with the marquee clash against Pakistan on Sunday.
India conceded 58 runs off the last five overs and that is something they would like to improve on.
After losing the toss, India put up a decent bowling effort. India had Australia on the mat at 11/3 after Aaron Finch opted to bat first. David Warner’s barren run continued after a failed attempt at a reverse sweep had him trapped in front by R Ashwin.
With his very next ball, Ashwin got rid of birthday boy Mitchell Marsh who played for the turn which wasn’t there only to edge it to the first slip. Ravindra Jadeja had Finch trapped LBW with a slider off his very first ball, leaving Australia with a lot of work to do.
Steve Smith (57 off 48) and the in-form Glenn Maxwell (37 off 28) then rebuilt with a 61-run partnership. While Maxwell used the reverse sweep to good effect, Smith kept himself busy by rotating the strike.
After Maxwell fell to a conventional sweep, Smith and Marcus Stoinis (41 not out off 25 balls) got together and provided a much-needed final flourish to the innings. Smith smashed Shardul Thakur for three successive fours in the 17th over before Stoinis hit a straight six and a boundary off Varun Chakaravarthy, who conceded 23 runs in his two overs.
With PTI Inputs