India showed batting ability in the first warm-up match against England. India easily crossed the target of 189 runs. England was able to challenge India by scoring big. But Australia, who have been playing in the T20 for a long time, could not do that. The Smith-Stoneys batted first and scored 153 runs. India has already crossed that target 13 balls. That too with 8 wickets in hand. India are preparing for the World Cup with two wins in a row. Virat Kohli’s India will start the World Cup with a match against Pakistan on October 24.
Australian captain Aaron Finch decided to bat after winning the toss. Australia suffered a batting disaster in the beginning. David Warner, who lost form, returned with just 1 run. Mitchell Marsh’s plan to shuffle the batting order did not work either. Captain Finch is also disappointed, all-rounder Rabindra Jadeja has given the team only 6 runs before falling into the trap of leg before.
Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell, who were in form, took the helm of Australia who lost 3 wickets for 11 runs. Together they added 61 runs for the fourth wicket. Rahul Chahar breaks the 52-ball partnership. Maxwell returned with 36 off 26 balls. Then Marcus Stones’ 41 off 25 balls brought Australia the capital to save the standard. Smith made 56 off 46 balls. Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets with just 6 runs in 2 overs. Rabindra Jadeja, Bhubaneswar Kumar and Shardul Tagore took one wicket each.
India got off to a good start by batting. Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma made 6 runs in the opening over. Although Rahul returned for 39 off 31 balls, Rohit Sharma practically ended the match with number three batsman Suryakumar Yadav. When he returned to the pavilion voluntarily with 60 off 41 balls, India needed 30 off 30 balls to win.
Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, who batted four times, performed this duty quite effortlessly. 16.5 overs was enough for them to win. Virat Kohli did not have to bat anymore. Yadav batted brilliantly, scoring 37 off 26 balls with five fours and a six. Pandia scored 14 runs off 7 balls in one six. Left-arm spinner Ashton Agar took the only wicket India lost.
Also read: India prepares for World Cup by beating Australia
Despite batting very well in both the matches, India suffered from the lack of a sixth bowler. Because, all-rounder Hardik Pandya did not bowl in a single match. Captain Virat Kohli himself did two overs yesterday. But Rohit Sharma didn’t seem too worried about it, ‘Hardik is batting very well, he will start bowling very soon. Although he has not started bowling yet, it is expected that he will be ready to bowl before the first match.
The Indian team management is also quite optimistic about Pandya’s bowling. Apart from that, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling well in this match against England is also a relief for the team, said Rohit Sharma.
