Virat Kohli the bowler, Rohit Sharma's sixes, Ashwin's wickets: 5 big takeaways for India in warm-up match vs Australia
If the first warm-up match against England, which India won by six wickets, belonged to KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, the match against Australia was owned by Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Suryakumar Yadav.
India pretty much ticked all the boxes in their second and last warm-up match against Australia on Wednesday in Dubai ahead of the main rounds of ICC T20 World Cup 2021. India beat Australia comfortably by 8 wickets. If the first warm-up match against England, which India won by six wickets, belonged to KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, the match against Australia was owned by Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Suryakumar Yadav. This was India's last opportunity to plug the holes before the main rounds begin on Saturday and captain Virat Kohli would be pretty happy with the effort put in by his boys.
Here are India's biggest takeaways from their second warm-up match against Australia
Rohit Sharma's fifty: The India vice-captain did not feature in the practice match against England but on Wednesday he was back as the opener and also as the captain. Rohit was not at his best in the IPL but come the big tournament, Rohit showed exactly why he is rated as one of the best in the business. The right-hander started off slowly, letting partner KL Rahul do the bulk of the scorings but as soon as he got his eyes in, the strokes started to flow. Rohit hit five fours and three sixes, scoring 60 off 41 balls before deciding to retire out to give opportunity to Hardik Pandya.
India vs Australia warm-up match full highlights
R Ashwin's wickets: It's been a while seeing Ravichandran Ashwin in India colours in limited-overs cricket, four years and three months to be precise. The experienced off-spinner was one of the most impressive bowlers in the first warm-up match against England, giving away only 23 runs in his four overs when the rest went at more than 9 runs an over. But economy rate was never a problem with Ashwin. It was the lack of wickets in the middle overs that forced India to look towards wrist spinners. Ashwin's double-wicket over with the new-ball against Australia, in which he dismissed David Warner and Mitchell Marsh off successive deliveries, therefore, bears special significance.
Suryakumar Yadav's form: Ishan Kishan had pretty much dumped all the questions surrounding his form with some towering sixes in the last couple matches in the IPL and also India's first warm-up match against England. It was Suryakumar Yadav, who perhaps needed some runs going into the World Cup and he got just that against Australia in Dubai. The famous one-leg flick shots for six were back signaling that SKY was slowly returning to his best. He batted at No.3 against Australia and remained unbeaten on 38 off 27 balls as India knocked off the 153-run target in 17.5 overs.
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Virat Kohli the bowler: Rohit Sharma said at the toss that India are looking for a sixth bowling option to create backup plans for Hardik Pandya, who has not yet started to bowl. Rohit did mention himself, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav as the possible bowling options but very few expected Kohli to bowl especially after he had announced about three years ago that he won't be bowling because of a back injury. But to everyone's surprise, the India captain played only as a bowler against Australia.
India pretty much ticked all the boxes in their second and last warm-up match against Australia on Wednesday in Dubai ahead of the main rounds of ICC T20 World Cup 2021. India beat Australia comfortably by 8 wickets. If the first warm-up match against England, which India won by six wickets, belonged to KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, the match against Australia was owned by Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Suryakumar Yadav. This was India's last opportunity to plug the holes before the main round begin on Saturday and captain Virat Kohli would be pretty happy with the effort put in by his boys.
Here are India's biggest takeaways from their second warm-up match against Australia
Rohit Sharma's fifty: The India vice-captain did not feature in the practice match against England but on Wednesday he was back as the opener and also as the captain. Rohit was not at his best in the IPL but come the big tournament, Rohit showed exactly why he is rated as one of the best in the business. The right-hander started off slowly, letting partner KL Rahul do the bulk of the scorings but as soon as he got his eyes in, the strokes started to flow. Rohit hit five fours and three sixes, scoring 60 off 41 balls before deciding to retire out to give opportunity to Hardik Pandya.
R Ashwin's wickets: It's been a while seeing Ravichandran Ashwin in India colours in limited-overs cricket, four years and three months to be precise. The experienced off-spinner was one of the most impressive bowlers in the first warm-up match against England, giving away only 23 runs in his four overs when the rest went at more than 9 runs an over. But economy rate was never a problem with Ashwin. It was the lack of wickets in the middle overs that forced India to look towards wrist spinners. Ashwin's double-wicket over with the new-ball against Australia, in which he dismissed David Warner and Mitchell Marsh off successive deliveries, therefore, bears special significance.
Suryakumar Yadav's form: Ishan Kishan had pretty much dumped all the questions surrounding his form with some towering sixes in the last couple matches in the IPL and also India's first warm-up match against England. It was Suryakumar Yadav, who perhaps needed some runs going into the World Cup and he got just that against Australia in Dubai. The famous one leg flick shots for six were back signaling that SKY was slowly returning to his best. He batted at No.3 against Australia and remained unbeaten 38 off 27 balls as India knocked off the 153-run target in 17.5 overs.
Virat Kohli the bowler: Rohit Sharma said at the toss that India are looking for a sixth bowling option to create backup plans for Hardik Pandya, who has not yet started to bowl. Rohit did mention himself, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav as the possible bowling options but very few expected Kohli to bowl especially after he had announced about three years ago that he won't be bowling because of a back injury. But to everyone's surprise, the India captain played only as a bowler against Australia. |#+|
Kohli rolled his arms over for two overs and to good effect. Kohli gave away only 12 runs in his two overs. If Hardik doesn't bowl anytime soon then India would need the Kohli's and Rohit's to be prepared to chip in with an over or two every now and then.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: The experienced Indian pacer was slightly off-colour in the IPL and also went for runs in the first warm-up match against England but he showed signs of getting back to his best against Australia. He was good with the new-ball but what will give India heart, was the way he bowled to Steve Smith in the last over. Smith was batting on 57, eyeing nothing short of bounadries but Bhuvnehswar executed his plans to perfection and gave away only six runs. Bhuvneshwar finished with figures of 4 overs 1 for 27.
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