Steve Smith made his presence felt with a fine half-century to help Australia post a competitive total against India.
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Australian cricketer Steve Smith stepped up with a fine half-century to help his team post a total of 152 runs for the loss of five wickets in a T20 World Cup 2021 warm-up encounter against India. Smith smashed 57 runs off 48 deliveries in an innings comprising of seven boundaries. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis provided quality support, accumulating 41 runs from 25 balls with four fours and a maximum to his credit. Glenn Maxwell seemed quite confident as well, chipping in with a 28-ball 37. Maxwell seems to be in the same vein of form as he displayed in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Matthew Wade ensured the perfect finish to proceedings, chipping with a boundary off the final delivery.
Ravichandran Ashwin was very impressive in the two overs which he was permitted to bowl, accounting for two dismissals. Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Australia skipper Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bat in the warm-up match of the ongoing T20 World Cup against India. Regular skipper Virat Kohli has been rested for the encounter, with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami the other players joining him on the sidelines. Kohli is still taking the field in the role of a bowler and fielder. Rohit Sharma has taken on the captaincy in Kohli’s absence and will be eager to maintain the Indian team’s unbeaten run in the warm-up encounters of the prestigious tournament. India had earlier recorded a comprehensive win against England, in a statement of intent. Australia are similarly full of enthusiasm, after a triumph against New Zealand.
“We will bat first. Batted second in the last game, so looking to change things up a bit. It’s going very well at the moment. Josh Hazlewood is the only one who’ll not take the field today. Mitchell Swepson and Josh Inglis aren’t playing as well,” said Finch as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Rohit admitted that he would have looked to bat as well, after winning the toss.
“Kohli, Bumrah and Shami are resting today. We wanted to bat first as well, just wanted to try and get runs on the board. We want to make sure that we get the 6th bowling option, some options in the batting order as well, we’ll try all those things today. Hardik is coming along pretty well, but it’ll be a while before he will start to bowl. He hasn’t started bowling, but he should be ready by the start of the tournament. We have quality in the main bowlers, but you need an option for a 6th bowler,” he stated.
Lineups:
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade(w), Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins.
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