Team India is continuing its dominance in the warm-up games of the T20 World Cup. After winning comfortably against England in the first game, the men in blue have now emerged victorious against Australia. Once again, Indian batsmen have put up a scintillating show and chased the target of 153 in less than 18 overs.
After winning the toss, Aussie captain Aaron Finch chose to bat first.
Indian bowlers gave an early breakthrough by dismissing the top-order batsmen David Warner, Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh in the first four overs. Steven Smith (57) and Glenn Maxwell (37) then settled the innings by making a partnership of 61 runs. After Maxwell’s dismissal, Marcus Stoinis (41*) played an entertaining cameo and made a partnership of 76 runs with Smith. The latter got out in the last over, after completing his half-century. With the help of Smith’s anchor innings, Australia made a score of 152/5 in 20 overs.
Indian batsmen started troubling Aussie bowlers right from the first over by smashing them all over the park. Rohit Sharma (60), who looked out of form in the IPL, came back strong in this match. He, along with KL Rahul (39), made an opening partnership of 68 runs for the first wicket. After Rahul’s dismissal, Rohit completed his half-century. He got retired after scoring 60 runs off 41 balls. Surya Kumar Yadav (38*) finished things along with Hardik Pandya and helped India make a score of 153/1 in 17.5 overs.
With this dominating victory, India is all set for the Super-12 stage. It will face its first league game against Pakistan on October 24.