Suryakumar Yadav continued his fine form as the Indian team put on a fine performance against the Western Australia Cricket Association XI, beating the hosts by 13 runs in their first exhibition game ahead of the T20 World Cup in Perth on Monday. The Indian team, which has been training at the WACA for the past three days, wanted to get used to the pace and bounce of the course as the visitors scored 158 for six in their 20 overs set. In response, WACA XI only managed 145 in their 20 overs.
Instead of captain Rohit Sharma’s regular opening partner KL Rahul, it was Rishabh Pant who opened the innings for the visitors.
But it was Suryakumar, whose 35-ball 52 was the highlight of the Indian innings as several hundred fans enjoyed his fluid stroke play.
He hit three fours and as many sixes on his beat and not for once did the pace and bounce off the lane seem to alarm the world No. 2 T20I batter.
The other man who made a significant contribution was all-rounder Hardik Pandya who scored a quickfire of 29 from 20 balls. Deepak Hooda also came in with 22 from 14 balls when India scored 39 for two in the Powerplay.
When Suryakumar came out in the 17th over, India was even 129 for five, but the last three overs brought in 29 runs and brought them closer to a decent 160 run.
Defending the total against a second series WACA XI side was not a big question as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh basically blew away the home team’s top order within the six Powerplay overs.
WACA XI was reduced to 29 for four within six overs and they were never able to recover from the setback.
Arshdeep was the best Indian bowler on display with impressive numbers of 3/6 from three overs, while Bhuvneshwar (2/26) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/15) also came in with a few wickets.
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India’s next exhibition game against the same opponent is on October 13 before the team travels to Brisbane for the two official warm-up games against England and New Zealand.
Short Scores: India 158 for 6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 52 off 35 balls, Hardik Pandya 29 off 20 balls, Deepak Hooda 22 off 14 balls) vs WACA XI 145 (Arshdeep Singh 3/6, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/26, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/10).
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