Rohit Sharma (left) and KL Rahul run between the wickets during the India vs Australia warm-up match in Dubai on Wednesday.
India ramped up their preparations for the T20 World Cup with an eight-wicket win over Australia in their final warm-up game here on Wednesday but the sixth bowler’s place remained a matter of concern. Virat Kohli Moved his hand to go to the tournament.
captaining the team with kohli coming out on the field just to bowl, Rohit Sharma (retd 60 for 41) showed sublime touch with opening partner KL Rahul (39 off 31) as India chased down Australia’s 152 for five in 17.5 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav (38 not out on 27) came third in Kohli’s absence and got valuable time in between, which boosted his confidence going forward.
Hardik Pandya (14 not out on 8) came on four to end the game and did so with a clean hit to the bowler’s head. Another plus for India was the experienced fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar Finding momentum after a poor outing against England. India had also defeated England in their first warm-up match.
The batting department looks more or less settled and the five specialist bowlers also inspire confidence but the same cannot be said about the extra bowling option as Hardik is not bringing his all-rounder skills to the table at the moment.
“Hardik is coming along very well but it will take him some time to start bowling. He hasn’t started bowling but he should be ready till the start of the tournament,” said Rohit warmly at the toss-up match against Australia.
The team management is hopeful that he will be ready to bowl during India’s World Cup campaign which starts with the match against Pakistan on Sunday. Skipper Kohli kept things tight with two overs of medium pace but expecting him to work in high-pressure scenarios would be asking for a lot from him.
India conceded 58 runs in the last five overs and that is something they would like to improve upon. After losing the toss, India made a good bowling effort.
Rohit said in the toss that Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah And Mohammed Shami He was rested from the game, but the captain stepped into the field to bowl a few overs, conceding 12 runs.
India put Australia on the mat for 11 runs for three wickets Aaron Finch Decided to bat first. David Warner’s barren run continued when he was trapped in front of Ravichandran Ashwin after a failed reverse sweep attempt.
On his very next ball, Ashwin dismissed birthday boy Mitchell Marsh, who was playing for the turn, only to not take the lead at first slip.
Ravindra Jadeja Finch had trapped lbw with a slider off his very first ball, leaving Australia with a lot of work to do.
Steve Smith (57 out of 48) and in-form Glen Maxwell (37 off 28) tried to break the bond with a 61-run partnership. While Maxwell made good use of the reverse sweep, Smith kept himself busy by rotating the strike.
After falling in Maxwell’s traditional sweep, Smith and Marcus Stoinis (41 not out off 25 balls) came together and provided the innings with a much-needed final flourish.
Smith hit three consecutive fours off Shardul Thakur in the 17th over before Stoinis hit a straight six and a four off mystery spinner Varun Chakraborty, who conceded 23 runs in his two overs.
After a bad day at the office against England, Bhuvneshwar found his rhythm and was dominant both in the starts and in the death. India, however, will be a little disappointed to concede so many runs in the death overs and help Australia recover.
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