Muscat: Spectacular performances with both bat and ball helped India to defeat Australia by nine wickets in the warm-up match of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup here at the ICC Academy Ground on Wednesday.
Actually, India came up with a dominant effort against Australia, who struggled to get going on a sluggish pitch after opting to bat.
Chasing a below-par total of 153, India put on a show with the bat as their top 4 chipped in. India completed the chase as early as the 18th over, losing only one wicket in the process.
While Ashwin took two wickets, Rahul and Rohit played knocks of 39 and 60 respectively as India chased down the target of 153 quite comfortably. Suryakumar Yadav also chipped in with an innings of 38 runs.
Earlier, Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis played knocks of 57 and 41 respectively as Australia posted a total of 152/5. Opting to bat first, Australia got off to the worst start possible as David Warner (1), Aaron Finch (8) and Mitchell Marsh (0) lost their wickets cheaply.
In the final two overs, 21 more runs were scored and as a result, Australia posted a total of more than the 150-run mark.
