Both captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli did not bat in either of the two warm-up matches that India played against Western Australia XI in the run-up to the T20 World Cup. While Kohli was on the field for a period of time during the second match, Rohit did not feature in it at all with KL Rahul taking up the captaincy duties. However, the two senior India batters were seen with the bat in the middle right after the match was over.
Rohit could be seen whipping out a signature pull shot to send the ball soaring over the leg side boundary. Kohli, meanwhile, hit the ball along the ground and seemed to have got his timing spot on.
India fell to a 36-run defeat against Western Australia in the second practice match in Perth on Thursday. Batting first, the hosts piled 168/8 in 20 overs, while India could only manage 132/8 in response. KL Rahul scored 74 off 55 balls, barring him none of the batters failed to withstand the Western Australia attack.
Rishabh Pant, who walked out to open the innings with KL Rahul was dismissed for 9. Deepak Hooda was packed by Lance Morris on 6. Hardik Pandya departed on 17, while Axar Patel could only manage 2. Dinesh Karthik was dismissed on 10. Rohit was part of the playing XI but didn't come out to bat. Ravichandran Ashwin emerged as the standout bowler from the Indian camp.
{{/usCountry}}Rishabh Pant, who walked out to open the innings with KL Rahul was dismissed for 9. Deepak Hooda was packed by Lance Morris on 6. Hardik Pandya departed on 17, while Axar Patel could only manage 2. Dinesh Karthik was dismissed on 10. Rohit was part of the playing XI but didn't come out to bat. Ravichandran Ashwin emerged as the standout bowler from the Indian camp.
{{/usCountry}}The spinner scalped three wickets, all of which came in the same over. Harshal Patel scalped two, while Arshdeep and Bhuvneshwar picked one wicket each. One wicket came in the form of run-out. Nick Hobson and D’Arcy Short slammed their respective half-centuries. Hobson was dismissed for 64 by Harshal, while Short was run-out on 52 in the same over,