India defeat WA XI by 13 runs in T20 World Cup 2022 practice match; Rohit Sharma and Harshal Patel fail to impress
Rohit Sharma and Harshal Patel had a forgettable outing in the middle against Western Australia XI on Monday (10 October). Despite the two Indian players' disappointing showing, the Men in Blue managed to record a 13-run victory in the practice game before ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 warm-up round, the BCCI scheduled two additional practice matches for the Indian squad against Western Australia XI. Since Perth is one of the venues where India will play their T20 World Cup 2022 matches, the games against WA XI will help them get adjusted to the conditions.
India batted first in today's match. Rohit Sharma opened the innings with Rishabh Pant. Both openers failed to touch double digits. While Rohit Sharma lost his wicket to left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff when he was on three, Andrew Tye dismissed Pant for nine runs.
Both Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were rested for this match. However, according to a report by The West, Kohli received loud cheers from the fans in attendance at the WACA Ground whenever he left the dugout. Even Rahul was spotted clicking selfies with the fans in attendance.
In Kohli's absence, Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda batted in the middle order. Yadav top-scored for the team with a match-winning 52 while Hooda supported him with a 22-run knock.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya played a decent knock of 27 runs as India finished with 158/6 in their 20 overs.
Rohit Sharma rotated his bowlers well as India successfully defended the target
Chasing 159 for a win against India, Western Australia XI lost wickets at regular intervals. Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh bowled a dream spell of 3/6 in three overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar backed him up to perfection with figures of 2/26.
However, medium pacer Harshal Patel had a bad day in the office. He conceded 49 runs in his four overs. Sam Fanning's half-century almost guided the home team to a win but eventually, they fell 13 runs short.
Brief Scores: India 158/6 (Suryakumar Yadav 52, Hardik Pandya 27; Jason Behrendorff 2/26, Matt Kelly 2/43) beat WA XI 145/8 (Sam Fanning 59, Cameron Bancroft 22; Arshdeep Singh 3/6, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/15) by 13 runs.