Rohit’s half-century, India beat Australia by 9 wickets

Captain and opener Rohit Sharma (60 retired hurt) scored a brilliant half-century as India beat Australia by nine wickets in a warm-up match of the ICC T20 World Cup to register their second consecutive win.

Australia posted a challenging 152 for five in 20 overs with a brilliant half-century from Steven Smith (57) and useful knocks from Glenn Maxwell (37) and Marcus Stoinis (41) while India posted 153 for one in 17.5 overs. Won unilateral victory.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat but had a poor start and lost three wickets for 11 runs. But Smith and Maxwell shared a 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Maxwell was bowled by leg-spinner Rahul Chahar after scoring 37 runs in 28 balls with the help of five fours.

Smith then added 76 runs for the fifth wicket with Stoinis. Smith became the victim of Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the fifth ball of the last over of the innings after scoring 57 runs off 48 balls with the help of seven fours. Stoinis scored an unbeaten 41 off 25 balls with the help of four fours and a six. Matthew Wade plays a ball and hits it for a boundary.

Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets for just eight runs in two overs for India. Ashwin bowled the second over of the innings and took the wickets of David Warner on the fifth ball and Mitchell Marsh on the sixth ball. Warner’s poor form continued in this match as well and he could only score one run. Marsh’s account was not opened. Captain Aaron Finch scored eight runs off left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja’s leg before.

Jadeja took one wicket for 35 runs in four overs. Bhuvneshwar took 27 runs and Rahul Chahar took one wicket each for 17 runs. Regular captain Virat Kohli also bowled two overs and conceded 12 runs in this match.

Chasing the target, Lokesh Rahul and Rohit added 68 runs in the opening partnership. Rahul maintained the form of the previous match and played a brilliant innings of 39 runs in 31 balls with the help of two fours and three sixes. Rohit retired hurt after scoring 60 off 41 balls with five fours and three sixes.

At the other end, Suryakumar Yadav hit five fours and a six in his unbeaten 38 off 27 balls. Hardik Pandya also returned to form and hit a winning six and returned unbeaten on 14 runs off eight balls. India thus achieved its second consecutive victory. India defeated England by seven wickets in the first warm-up match.