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Suryakumar Yadav and Arshdeep Singh were the stand-out performers for India in their first practice match as India defeated Western Australia XI by 13 runs at the WACA Stadium on Monday.
The Indian team has been training at the WACA in Perth for the past three days, and they wanted to get used to the pace and bounce of the pitches in Australia.
After electing to bat first, India made 158 for 6 in their allocated 20 overs with Suryakumar Yadav’s top score of 52 off 35 balls, hitting three fours and as many sixes. In response, the WACA XI scored 145 for 8, falling 13 runs short of the target in their 20 overs.
Arshdeep Singh took the third wicket of his match in the 17th over, to dismiss 21-year-old San Fanning, who single-handedly tried to take Western Australia XI to a win with a good-looking 53-ball 59, hitting five fours and a six. With his dismissal, India managed to come out with a win.
In India’s first practice match, key players like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t take part, with captain Rohit Sharma opening the batting alongside left-hander Rishabh Pant.
After electing to bat first, Rohit struggled against left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff and was caught behind for three on the first ball of his spell. Deepak Hooda, who was promoted to bat at number three, scored two fours and a six in his quickfire knock of 22 off 14 balls before getting out to Behrendorff.
Pant did not appear to be at ease at the crease, as he struggled to find a rhythm throughout his innings. After scoring a boundary off Andrew Tye, he holed out on the very next ball to the fielder in the deep.
Suryakumar added a 49-run stand with Hardik Pandya (27 off 20 balls) before the latter fell to Matt Kelly.
The highlight of India’s batting was Suryakumar, who continued his form with the bat with a magnificent 35-ball 52, as a few hundred fans thoroughly enjoyed his free-flowing strokeplay. He hit three fours and as many sixes during his knock, and not for once did the pace and bounce of the track look to trouble the world No.2 ranked T20I batter.
Apart from Suryakumar, all-rounder Hardik Pandya was the other player who contributed with the bat by scoring 27 off 20 balls. Middle-order batter Deepak Hooda, who was making a comeback after an injury, also chipped in with 22 off 14 balls at No. 3.
India were in trouble at 28 for 2 in the powerplay before Suryakumar came to the crease. India were at 129 for 5 after Surykumar’s dismissal in the 18th over, but the last 16 balls yielded 29 runs, which got them to a total of 158 for 6 and helped them get close to the 160 run-mark.
Defending the total against WACA XI, India started well as pace bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh rattled the home team’s top-order inside the powerplay.
While chasing, in just the third over, WACA XI were reduced to 12 for 4, and they were not quite able to recover from that initial setback.
Arshdeep was the highlight of the Indian bowling on display with impressive figures of 3/6 from three overs, while Bhuvneshwar (2 for 26) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2 for 15) also chipped in.
India will play their next practice game against the same opposition on October 13 before the team travels to Brisbane for two official T20 World Cup warm-up games against Australia and New Zealand.
Brief Scores: India 158/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 52, Hardik Pandya 27; Jason Behrendorff 2/26, Matt Kelly 2/43) beat Western Australia XI (Sam Fanning 59, Cameron Bancroft 22; Arshdeep Singh 3/6, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/15) by 13 runs.
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