Western Australia thrash India by 36 runs in the warm up match of the T20WorldCup2022

KL Rahul’s 55-ball 74 and Ravichandran Ashwin’s spell of 3/32 ended up in a losing cause as India went down to Western Australia XI by 36 runs in their second practice match ahead of the T20 World Cup at the W.A.C.A in Perth on Thursday.

WA XI lost Josh Philippe quite early in the innings after India won the toss and asked them to bat first. But D’Arcy Short and Nick Hobson took charge of the proceedings and put on a stand of 110 runs for the second wicket. Both batters were going all guns blazing and looked set to take them to a big total but Harshal Patel gave India a much-needed breakthrough as he dismissed Hobson in the 15th over of the innings.

The 28-year-old played an excellent knock as he scored 68 from 41 deliveries, including five fours and four huge sixes. India got another breakthrough in the very next over as D’Arcy Short was run out this time, with Patel finding himself in the midst of things once again.

With both set batters out, India was looking to put brakes on the scoring rate and they did that to perfection. Ashwin also claimed three wickets in the 16th over of the innings to derail WA XI’s innings further. The fireworks from the Western Australia batters had completely stopped and they reached a total of 168/8 at the end of their innings.