A T20 game between two of the biggest countries in cricket is bound to be exciting, isn’t it? India and Australia put one of their best performances in the warm-up game ahead of the T20 World Cup in UAE. India won the game with 9 wickets in hand and chased down a score of 152. The Australian team, under the leadership of Aaron Finch, won the toss. They chose to bat first. The Kangaroos went on to score 152 runs. The target was easily chased down by the Indians keeping 13 balls to spare. KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav starred with the bat. Here is a look: –
India VS Australia Warm-Up Game 1st innings: –
The innings began with a slow start for the Australian side. They went through to the first two overs. Before David Warner was out lbw while trying a nonchalant, unrequired reverse sweep against Ravichandran Ashwin. The very next delivery Ashwin sent back an in-form Mitchell Marsh caught out in slip to Rohit Sharma. Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept things tight at the other end by bowling good lines at a decent pace. Jadeja struck with the first ball of his game and got Aaron Finch out lbw! Australia was struggling at 11/3 when Aaron went back. Steve Smith combined Glenn Maxwell to hold the innings together.
Glenn Maxwell took the charge of Ravindra Jadeja by reverse sweeping him for a couple of boundaries. He shifted the momentum towards the Aussies. Maxwell made a quick 30 before getting dismissed at 37 by Rahul Chahar. Glenn Maxwell chopped the ball onto the stumps while trying to sweep him out of the park. Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis helped to stop a further downfall. And in the far end, they belted Shardul Thakur for 18 runs in an over. Varun Chakravarthy, India’s trump card was also unleashed for 2 overs. Virat Kohli also rolled his arm around with the ball and got in 2 overs. At the end of the innings, Australia ended with 152/5 with Steve Smith top scoring 57 runs. Marcus Stoinis was second on the list with 41 runs.
India VS Australia Warm-Up Game 2nd innings: –
Indian Batsmen were on a roll in the second innings of the match. It appeared as if India and Australia played on completely distinct wickets. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul smashed the likes of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. They took the chargeback to the bowlers. Rahul took out his glorious cover drives out of the box. Rohit played second fiddle in presence of Rahul. But as soon as KL Rahul was dismissed by Ashton Agar at a score of 39 from 31 balls, Rohit switched to gear 5! Suryakumar Yadav walked in at number 3 in absence of Virat Kohli and helped Anchor the innings. Rohit Sharma got retired out as Hardik Pandya walked into cleaning up the things. Suryakumar hit the “Shot of the day” by sweeping Starc over deep square leg for a boundary. India won the game by 9 wickets and 13 balls to spare.
Brief Scores: –
Australia Batting: –
Steve Smith 57* (48), Marcus Stoinis 41 (25). Ravi Ashwin 2/8, Rahul Chahar 1/17.
India Batting: –
Rohit Sharma(retired) 60 (41), KL Rahul 39 (31). Ashton Agar 1/14.
