India win warm-up against Aussies with ease as Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav shine

Dubai, October 20

India fine-tuned their T20 World Cup preparations with a convincing eight-wicket win over Australia in their second and final warm-up game here today. Despite the easy win, the sixth bowler’s slot remained a worry going into the tournament, even as Virat Kohli rolled his arm over, bowling two overs.

Rohit Sharma captained the team — Kohli took the field only to bowl — and scored 60 off 41 balls before retiring to give others an opportunity to bat. Sharma showed sublime touch alongside opening partner KL Rahul (39 off 31) as India easily chased down Australia’s 152 for five in 17.5 overs.

Virat Kohli took the field to bowl a couple of overs in which he conceded 12 runs.

Suryakumar Yadav, who came in at No. 3 in Kohli’s absence, spanked an unbeaten 38 off 27 balls and got valuable time in the middle, which should boost his confidence. Hardik Pandya (14 not out off 8) came at No. 4 to finish the game and he did it with a clean hit for a straight six over bowler Kane Richardson’s head.

Bhuvi finds rhythm

Another plus for India was seasoned pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar finding rhythm after a poor outing against England, when India had won by seven wickets.

India conceded 58 runs off the last five overs and that is something they would like to improve on.

After losing the toss, India put up a decent bowling effort. Sharma mentioned at the toss that Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were rested today but Kohli took the field to bowl a couple of overs in which he conceded 12 runs. — Agencies

Settled batting

India’s batting looks more or less settled and the five specialist bowlers also inspire confidence but the same can’t be said about the extra bowling option, with Hardik Pandya still not bowling. “Hardik is coming along pretty well, but it’ll be a while before he will start to bowl. He hasn’t started bowling, but he should be ready by the start of the tournament,” said Rohit Sharma at the toss today. The team management is hoping Pandya would be ready to bowl during India’s World Cup campaign, which begins with the marquee clash against Pakistan on Sunday. Virat Kohli kept things tight with two overs of medium pace but to expect him to do the job in high-pressure scenarios would be asking for too much from him.

Namibia beat Dutch

Abu Dhabi: David Wiese scored 66 to fashion Namibia’s six-wicket win over the Netherlands in a Group A game of the T20 World Cup. pti