Team India took part in a warm-up match against Western Australia on Monday as part of the preparations for the T20 World Cup, that begins on October 16. India will begin its campaign a week later (October 23) against arch-rivals Pakistan and will also take part in two ICC warm-up games ahead of their tournament opener (against New Zealand and Australia). In the match against Western Australia, the Indians registered a 13-run win as Suryakumar Yadav and Arshdeep Singh produced impressive performances.
After electing to bat first, India put 158/6 in 20 overs with Suryakumar scoring a brisk 52 off 35 deliveries; with the ball, Arshdeep registered brilliant figures of 3/6 in three overs, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal also picked two wickets each. India eventually restricted Western Australia on 145/8 in 20 overs, making a winning start to their World Cup preparations in Australia.
Following the game, the Indian players engaged with the fans present at the WACA ground in Perth, and Arshdeep found many fans approaching him for autographs and selfies. A fan could even be heard saying, “Arey paaji yahan bhi aa jao (Brother, please come here as well).”
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{{/usCountry}}Arshdeep is a part of the Indian pace attack which also includes Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, and Hardik Pandya. India had faced a setback when Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the marquee tournament with a back injury; the BCCI is yet to announce his replacement player in the squad.
The Indian team is among the first ones to arrive in Australia, as captain Rohit Sharma stated earlier that the team management wants its younger players to acclimatize to Australian conditions.
India will face Western Australia in another warm-up game later this week. The T20 World Cup begins on October 16 with Sri Lanka taking on Namibia in a group match.