Team India on Thursday lost their 2nd practice match against Western Australia by 36 runs in Perth. While chasing a challenging 169-run target, the KL Rahul-led side was restricted to 132/8 in their quota of 20 overs. The captain top-scored with a 55-ball 74, including 2 sixes and 9 boundaries but no other batters could contribute much with the bat in hand.
Regular captain Rohit Sharma was also in the mix but didn’t bat while the likes of Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Suryakumar Yadav didn’t feature in the playing XI. Rishabh Pant paired with Rahu in the top of the order but the youngster could muster just 9 runs during his 11-ball stint.
Besides Rahul, Hardik Pandya (17) and Dinesh Karthik (10) were the only two batters to score in double digits. For Western Australia, Matthew Kelly (2/26), Lance Morris (2/23) and Hamish McKenzie (2/23) picked up 2 wickets each.
India’s 36-run loss to Western Australia has left the fans fuming. Social media has got flooded with reactions as netizens are questioning the team’s preparation for the World Cup, starting Saturday.
Here’s how they reacted:
Tough group but I still think Western Australia can win the World Cup https://t.co/u7b1Dso6cP
— Ian Higgins (@1an_Higgins) October 13, 2022
Western Australia club team beat India national team by 36 runs in a T20 match in Australia as a tribute to India’s 36 allout against Australia in Australia. Team 36 😂 #Cricket
— Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket) October 13, 2022
@klrahul scores 74 (55) in a practice match against western australia . Still india loses by 36 runs #T20WorldCup
— Arjun jha 60 (@arjunishere26) October 13, 2022
Western Australia Club Team have defeated Major India Team by 36 runs in their practice match today, pretty disappointing performance ahead of the T20 World Cup. #HONESTVIND #INDvAUS #T20WorldCup2022
— Sara Kamal🇵🇰 (@SaraKamal786) October 13, 2022
Imagine losing to a state team who are not even playing with full strength #indiavswesternaustralia
— Puneet Verma (@puneetverma_) October 13, 2022
Club team ke haathon zalil ho rahe hai humare world class batters. Aare India B team ko world cup khele bhejna chahiye tha. Isse behtar khelte. #WesternAustralia #indiavswesternaustralia
— Ruplekha¹¹💛🙂 (@MukherjeeRuplek) October 13, 2022
India needs 40 runs in 7 balls to win. We have lost to WACA. Well played India.👋#indiavswesternaustralia #T20WorldCup2022 #KLhappy
— Divyanshu Shrimali (@DivyanshuShrim1) October 13, 2022
Indian🇮🇳 and Western Australia🇦🇺 team levelled up the matches (1-1). KL Rahul op ! 😵💫#T20WorldCup #BCCI#RohitSharma #ViratKohli #T20WC2022 pic.twitter.com/BPSjsbBETp
— Line up! (@Sahu6996) October 13, 2022
Aur western australia mein kaun se International players khel rahe the saare.
Agar test hota toh samjh bhi aata but T20 mein bhi pel diya.
— ANKUR (@ank__16n) October 13, 2022
Electing to bowl first, Josh Phillippe was taken out early by Arshdeep Singh on a pitch that had some bounce. D’Arcy Short (52 off 38 balls) and Nick Hobson (64 off 41 balls) shared a partnership of exactly 100 runs, where the duo took the spinners to the cleaners.
The century stand was broken when Short was run-out and Hobson soon followed after holing out in the deep. Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin then struck in consecutive balls to remove Ashton Turner and Sam Fanning apart from taking out Cameron Bancroft in the same over.
Eventually, Western Australia XI finished on 168/6, with Ashwin grabbing figures of 3-32. From the pacers’ perspective, Harshal Patel took 2-27, in a welcome change after being on the expensive side in the recent times while Arshdeep ended with 1=25 in his three overs.
India will now move to Brisbane where they will play two warm-up matches against defending champions Australia on October 17 and last year’s runners-up New Zealand on October 19.
(With IANS Inputs)
Get the latest Cricket News, Schedule and Cricket Live Scores here