India lost in the second warm-up match, lost to West Australia by 36 runs

Perth. India suffered a 36-run loss to West Australia in the warm-up match of the second T20 World Cup here on Thursday due to failure of batsmen. Chasing the target of 169 runs, the former world champion Indian team could only manage 132 runs for eight wickets in 20 overs. India won the first warm-up match by 13 runs. D’Arcy Short scored 52 runs in 38 balls and Nick Hobson scored 64 runs in 41 balls to help Western Australia score 168 for eight in 20 overs.

R Ashwin was the most successful bowler for India. He took three wickets in an over. The three overs bowled by fast bowler Arshdeep Singh made an impact while Harshal Patel took two wickets for 27 runs in four overs. Indian batsmen struggled to score runs on the fast track of WACA. Indian captains Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav did not come out to bat.

Rohit and Kohli, however, did field during the West Australian innings. Caretaker captain KL Rahul scored 74 off 45 balls but it was not enough for the win. Rishabh Pant opened the innings with him but he could only score nine runs. Barring Rahul, none of India’s batsmen could make an impact. Deepak Hooda came out to bat at number three but could only score six runs in nine balls.

Hardik Pandya started with two sixes but he was dismissed for 17 runs in 9 balls. Indian team’s finisher Dinesh Karthik had to struggle. He scored 10 runs in 14 balls. The Indian team has been practicing in Perth for the past few days to adjust to the pace and bounce of Australian pitches. The team will now travel to Brisbane where it will play warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand on October 17 and 19 respectively. India will play its first match in the T20 World Cup against arch-rivals Pakistan on 23 October.