Suryakumar hits fifty in India’s first T20 World Cup practice game

They beat a Western Australia Cricket Association XI by 13 runs with Arshdeep Singh also making a mark

India 158 for 6 (Suryakumar 52, Behrendorff 2-26) beat Western Australia XI 145 for 8 (Fanning 59, Arshdeep 3-6, Bhuvneshwar 2-26) by 13 runs

Suryakumar Yadav continued his good form as the Indian team beat the Western Australia Cricket Association XI by 13 runs in its first practice game ahead of the T20 World Cup, in Perth on Monday.

The Indian team, which has been training at the WACA for the past three days, wanted to get used to the pace and bounce of the track. They made 158 for 6 in their stipulated 20 overs and in reply, the WACA XI managed only 145 for 8 in their 20 overs.

Instead of captain Rohit Sharma’s regular partner KL Rahul, it was Rishabh Pant, who opened the innings for the visitors. But it was Suryakumar, whose 35-ball 52 was the highlight of the innings as a few hundred fans enjoyed his free-flowing strokeplay. He hit three fours and as many sixes during his knock and not for once did the pace and bounce of the track look like troubling the world’s No. 2 ranked T20I batter.

The other man, who made a significant contribution, was allrounder Hardik Pandya who scored 27 off 20 balls. Deepak Hooda, having recently recovered from injury, also chipped in with 22 off 14 balls at No. 3.

India was 28 for 2 in the powerplay before Suryakumar’s intervention. His wicket, in the 18th over, left India at 129 for 5 but the last 16 balls yielded 29 runs and got them closer to the 160-run mark.

Defending the total against a WACA XI wasn’t a big ask as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh basically blew away the home team’s top order inside the powerplay. WACA XI was reduced to 12 for 4 in the third over and they could never recover from the setback.

Arshdeep was the best Indian bowler on view with impressive figures of 3 for 6 from three overs, while Bhuvneshwar (2 for 26) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2 for 15) also chipped in.

India’s next practice game against the same opposition is on October 13 before the team travels to Brisbane for two official T20 World Cup warm-up games against Australia and New Zealand.