Rohit Sharma: Virat Kohli turned his arm over as India looked to explore bowling options.
A rollicking fifty by Rohit Sharma led India to a comfortable nine-wicket win against Australia in both teams’ second and final warmup games ahead of their main T20 World Cup campaign.
India’s bowlers, led by R Ashwin`s 2 for 8, had kept Australia to 152 for 5, and the batters then motored through the chase.
Rohit retired out after getting to 60 in 41 balls, leaving Suryakumar Yadav to apply the finishing touches to a chase that had been well set up by an opening stand of 68 between Rohit and KL Rahul.
Rohit Sharma had captained India in this game, with Virat Kohli sitting out of the batting innings, though he did play an active role in the first innings, being on the field and even bowling two overs.
India had Australia in early trouble after Aaron Finch opted to beat first and cut them down to 11 for 3 in the fourth round, beating Jadeja with a spin through Ashwin and Ravindra. India had both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami rest in that game and turn to weirdos for half of the power plays.
Ashwin, who shared the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, made an immediate impression when David Warner caught 1 lbw, and then Mitchell Marsh slid the next ball to shake Australia early.
Later, Jadeja catches Finch up front, and it’s up to Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell to rebuild him. Maxwell was uninhibited despite losing ground and played his back shots whenever he saw an opportunity. The two had added 61 runs on 52 balls before Maxwell continued against Rahul Chahar.
Australia found a small finishing kick through Marcus Stoinis, who was undefeated in a 25ball 41, while Smith also increased his pace in death overs to increase the score to over 150.
India put up seven bowlers, but Hardik Pandya was not among them. However, when Kohli swung his arm, he indicated that India was looking for bowling opportunities.
The persecution of India went largely unhindered, Rahul reprised his attacking role and did not hold back, as he has often done in the IPL.
He couldn’t always connect with his big attempts, but the intention couldn’t be overlooked. He was three sixes and was ready to beat Adam Zampa 39 of 31.
Rohit Sharma had started quickly and then made anchor but sped up again when Rahul was out.
He was 28 of 25 when Rahul fell, shooting 32 of the next 16 balls at him. He retired when he caught 26 of the last 30 balls, allowing Hardik to score. Suryakumar was undefeated with 38 of 27.
Ishan Kishan, the replacement starter, was also in great shape, but it seems likely that he won’t be in the first eleven.
Suryakumar and Hardik, who had time in between, also indicated that they are part of the team’s preferred starting eleven.
Like India, Australia used the warm-up game to allow a variety of shots below the belt, with a total of eight used in 17.5 overs, though none of them posed a continuing threat.
However, his main finding was that Stoinis did two laps after recovering from injury.
India had won their first preparation match against England, while Australia had defeated New Zealand in the previous preparation match.
Australia will open their T20 World Cup campaign against South Africa on October 23, while India will face Pakistan in their first game on October 24.
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Read more about: Three things we learned from India vs Australia warm-up game: T20 World Cup 2021
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