IND vs WA: Western Australia thump India by 36 runs in warm-up game

KL Rahul played a valiant knock [Source: Twitter]

In an unexpected turn of events, India lost their second unofficial warm-up game by 36 runs at the hands of Western Australia on Thursday.

KL Rahul's 74 goes in vain as the Indian batters failed to live up to the expectations and were taken apart by a confident WA side.

Western Australia batted first in the match and put up a total of 168 runs in their 20 overs. Nick Robson (64)  and D'Arcy Short (52) laid the foundation for the team. A great start for them was restricted in the end courtesy of Ravichandran Ashwin's three-wicket over. Ashwin finished with the best figures for India picking up 3 wickets for 32 runs in his quota of 4 overs. Besides Ashwin, Harshal Patel did a decent job with the ball picking up 2 wickets for 27 runs in his 4 overs.

In the chase the India batting devoid of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav had a scrappy outing. The only significant contribution came from KL Rahul, he scored 74 runs off 55 deliveries. But given the target of the day it was a rust knock to say the least. 

This defeat to a local team might hurt the preparatory plans of India ahead of the major tournament. As of now, the batting line up looks under prepared in absence of Kohli and Suryakumar. 

Brief Scores

Western Australia- 168/8 (20 Overs)

Nick Robson (64), D'Arcy Short (52)

Ravichandran Ashwin- 3/32 (4 Overs), Harshal Patel- 2/27 (4 Overs)

India- 132/8 (20 Overs)

KL Rahul- 74 (55)

AJ Tye- 1/16 (4 Overs)

M Kelly- 2/26 (4 Overs)

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