Welcome to Sportstar's live coverage of the T20 World Cup 2021 warm-up match between India and Australia at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai.
MATCH RECAP
In a fitting end to a dominant performance by India, Hardik Pandya smashed the ball straight for a six off Kane Richardson to take his side home by eight wickets with thirteen balls to spare.
Openers Rahul (39 off 31) and Rohit (60 off 41) gave India a strong start with a 68-run partnership before Suryakumar announced his much-awaited return to form with a stroke-filled unbeaten 38 off 27. With just six needed off 14 balls, Pandya completed the formalities with a heave straight down the ground.
After electing to bat, Australia was rocked by Ashwin's twin strikes in the second over that left it reeling at 6 for two. Skipper Finch was foxed by Jadeja in the fourth to add to Australia's woes. Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell fought back hard with a 61-run partnership before another strong stand of 76 runs between Smith and Stoinis saw Australia to a respectable 152/5.
R Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with returns of 2/8 in two overs, while Bhuvneshwar, Jadeja and Rahul Chahar claimed one apiece.
India beats Australia by nine wickets.
IND 153/2 in 18 overs: Richardson to bowl. FOUR! Surya shuffles slightly to the off and flicks a short one fine. SIX! Hardik finishes it off gloriously with a straight six down the ground. That's the game!
IND 139/2 in 17 overs: Hardik slaps it through mid-wicket for a couple as Starc pulls off a comical fumble in the deep. Hardik lets out a despairing grunt as he misses out on a gift of a delivery in the slot, getting just a single. Two more singles to end the over.
IND 134/2 in 16 overs: Rohit walks off at 60 off 41 to make way for Hardik. Starc into the attack. Outrageous shot from Surya. Goes low to Starc and deftly places it to perfection fine of square leg. Hardik drives to get off the mark off his first ball with a single.
IND 127/1 in 15 overs: SIX! Trademark Rohit pull off Cummins and the ball sails over fine leg. Swings again but gets the bottom edge for a lucky single. Just short of chopping it onto his stumps. SIX! Surya joins the party. Wristy flick on a short one on leg and SKY goes into the sky. 14 come from it.
IND 113/1 in 14 overs: FOUR! A glorious late cut by Rohit off Stoinis and it's a fifty for him. As pleasing to the eye as batting can get. FOUR! Cheeky and bold from Surya. Slow boucer and Surya just flicks it fine for a boundary.
IND 101/1 in 13 overs: SIX! Rohit clears the boundary off Maxwell's first ball. In the slot and he launches it over long-on for a maximum. Four singles follow and hundred is up for India.
IND 91/1 in 12 overs: Hardik is padded up and Pant isn't so we might see the all-rounder coming in soon. Surya and Rohit tee off after a slight lull. A four and a six from the over.
IND 79/1 in 11 overs: Zampa to bowl his third. Six singles from the over. Zampa offers little to the batters with a tight line and length. Surya sweeps last ball convincingly but finds the man at deep square leg.
IND 73/1 in 10 overs: Agar back with the ball. Rohit gets off strike first ball. OUT! Rahul steps out for the heave but mistimes it and it goes straight up. Warner completes a good diving catch running from long-off. KL Rahul c Warner b Agar 39(31b 2x4 3x6). FOUR! Surya sweeps it to the square-leg boundary. Full and with no spin on it, it was waiting to be hit.
IND 67/0 in 9 overs: Seventh different bowler for Australia in the ninth over and it is birthday boy Mitchell Marsh. Rohit and Rahul are comfortable dealing in singles with all wickets intact and a middling target. Just five from it.
IND 62/0 in 8 overs: Stoinis replaces Richardson. Strong start by Stoinis. Mixing his pace well. Four singles from the over.
IND 58/0 in 7 overs: Zampa continues. SIX! Rahul gets under the ball and smashes it huge straight. SIX! Straight again Zampa gets the same treatment.
IND 42/0 in 6 overs: Kane Richardson is the new bowler. FOUR! Short and slapped straight for a boundary. Six from the over.
IND 36/0 in 5 overs: Zampa replaces Agar as Rohit replaces his bat. FOUR! Short and plenty time for Rohit to punch it through point and cover. Zampa is nudged around for three singles as seven come off it.
IND 29/0 in 4 overs: Cummins continues. FOUR! Timed to perfection by Rohit and finds the gap at mid-wicket. Pure elegance at display. Cummins keeps it tight after the four with four successive dots.
IND 25/0 in 3 overs: Agar to introduce spin. SIX! Rahul goes on his knees and picks it up to bludgeon it over long-on. Just two singles follow. Eight from it.
IND 17/0 in 2 overs: Cummins to hunt from the other end. Rohit gets off the mark with a gentle nudge to fine leg for one. FOUR! Another outside edge runs to the boundary as Rohit reaches out wide outside off to drive. FOUR! Loose ball on the legs and Rohit flicks it fine.
IND 7/0 in 1 over: Starc to Rahul. Dot first ball as Rahul fends it off. First run for India as Starc goes wide down leg. Rahul off the mark with two, flicks it to square leg. FOUR! Outside edge and four for Rahul as the ball runs away past the slip cordon. Harsh end to a brilliant over by Starc.
Rohit and Rahul walk onto the ground to open the innings.
AUS 152/5 in 20 overs: Bhuvi to bowl the final over. Single off the first. Wide and a dot follow. Bhuvi looks to keep it wide outside off, beyond Smith's arc. Pace off and short and Smith gets a bottom edge on the pull to play out a dot. Three dots in a row and Smith plays and misses. OUT! Pace off again, short and wide and Smith hands it straight to the man at cover. Smith c Rohit b Bhuvneshwar 57(48b 7x4 0x6). Wade to face the last ball of the innings. FOUR! Skillful from Wade. The quintessential ramp shot to hit it straight over the keeper. But great final over by Bhuvi after a horrid one against England.
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AUS 146/4 in 19 overs: FOUR! Stoinis crunches it straight and Varun does well to get his foot out of the way. SIX! Stoinis goes straight as an arrow again but gets some air on the ball this time. Nudged off the pads for a couple. Two more down square leg as Stoinis makes room to find the on-side boundary.
AUS 131/4 in 18 overs: Bhuvi to bowl in the death. Slashed past point by Stoinis for a couple. FOUR! Gets low for an uppish drive to the cover boundary. FOUR! Yorker goes awry as Smith gets it full on the legs and smashes it past long-on. A brace to end the over.
AUS 118/4 in 17 overs: Shardul continues. Dhoni and Pant are having a chat, the latter learning from the best in the trade. FOUR! Width outside off and Smith is all over it. Pierces it past cover. FOUR! Full this time and Smith heaves it over the bowler for another boundary. FOUR! Three in three. Slow bouncer and Smith jumps to smash it to deep point. A brace to end other over and it's a fifty for Smith.
AUS 102/4 in 16 overs: The "mystery" to unravel as Varun Chakaravarthy is into the attack. FOUR! Full on the stumps and Stoinis gets a boundary with a soft reverse-sweep to third. Varun recovers to concede just four off the next five balls.
AUS 94/4 in 15 overs: Shardul to put some pace back on the ball. Smith slaps it to square leg for one. He is on 29 off 31 and will want to accelerate soon. Punched for one on the on side by Stoinis for a single. FOUR! Tennis smash off a slower bouncer outside off and the inventive Smith is at his best. Two singles follow and it's eight from the over.
AUS 86/4 in 14 overs: Ashwin to bowl the hat-trick ball . Smith caresses it off the backfoot for one to deny the hat-trick. Five singles and a dot. Australia needs to get a move on.
AUS 81/4 in 13 overs: Kohli to bowl his second. FOUR! Pummelled off the backfoot by Stoinis wide of mid-on. Eight come off the over.
AUS 73/4 in 12 overs: Chahar to Maxwell. FOUR! Maxwell special as a switch-hit sends the ball to the boundary at third. OUT! Maxwell cleaned up! Beaten twice attempting the sweep but doesn't get third time lucky. Miscues the sweep, gets a bottom edge and timber! Maxwell b Rahul Chahar 37(28b 5x4 0x6). Stoinis walks into the middle. He is off the mark straightaway with one.
AUS 68/3 in 11 overs: FOUR! Maxwell drags it to deep midwicket for a boundary. FOUR! This time goes inside out to deposit it over extra cover. 11 from the over.
AUS 57/3 in 10 overs : Chahar continues. FOUR! Smith scoops it to a vacant fine leg. Four singles and a dot from the over. Batters are finding it hard to get it away as Jadeja keeps it arrow straight.
AUS 49/3 in 9 overs: Seven from the Jadeja over. Smith gets a boundary off a misfield.
AUS 42/3 in 8 overs: More pace off the ball as Rahul Chahar to bowl his leg-spin. He is keeping it tight with a full length on the stumps. Just four singles from the over.
Behold the rare site! Virat Kohli with the ball.
AUS 38/3 in 7 overs:Kohli bowls and it's been a while since he has done that. Wide first ball. Two dots and four singles follow as the batters nudge him around comfortably.
AUS 34/3 in 6 overs: Jadeja continues and he is reverse-swept first ball by Maxwell for FOUR! Gets the edge next ball on a drive and FOUR more. Maxwell collects three more as Ashwin chases and gets to the ball in the nick of time. Three singles to end the over. Good over for the Aussies. End of Powerplay!
AUS 20/3 in 5 overs: Shardul to bowl. A slight delay in play with an issue with the sidescreen. Starts off with a wide outside off. Two dots and Maxwell flicks it to deep square leg for two. A couple for Smith and six come off it. Smith is timing it well.
Mentor Dhoni is seen giving some wicket-keeping practice to Pant just beyond the boundary ropes.
AUS 14/3 in 4 overs: OUT! Jadeja in and gets Finch first ball. Plumb in front. Man in form Maxwell comes to the crease. He is off the mark with a single after getting beaten on the first ball. Just three come off it and the wicket. Finch lbw b Jadeja 8(10b 1x4 0x6).
AUS 11/2 in 3 overs: Bhuvi cramps Finch and Smith for room, pinning the ball close to the stumps. Finch still manages to pummel a length delivery down the ground for four.
AUS 6/2 in 2 overs: Ashwin to Warner. OUT! Ash slides the ball in sharply and beats Warner's defence. That's plumb in front and Warner's on his way! Mitchell Marsh at 3. He edges first ball and it's taken by Rohit in the slips! 2 in 2 for Ashwin! A golden duck for Mitch on his birthday.
Mitchell Marsh c Rohit b Ashwin 0(1), Warner lbw b Ashwin 1(7)
Ashwin from the opposite end
AUS 3/0 in 1 over: Bhuvi on the money with some fine swing from the start. Warner begins on an iffy note and fails to open his account off five deliveries.
Bhuvneshwar up with the new ball.
Surprise, surprise! Virat Kohli is on the field for IND - wonder who's the skipper for tonight.
Live Action! David Warner and Aaron Finch at the middle for Australia.
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3:14PM IST: Live visuals have MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and India head coach Ravi Shastri having a chat. Hardik will still continue to play as a pure batter as Rohit suggested he's still few days away from resuming bowling in full tilt.
India (11 batting, 11 fielding): 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 (11 batting, 11 fielding): David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade(w), Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Inglis, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Swepson, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins
3:00PM: Toss time. Rohit Sharma to lead India.
Match starts at 3:30 PM. Toss at 3 PM.
India Predicted Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Australia Predicted Playing XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Inglis, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins
MATCH PREVIEW
Its preparations for the T20 World Cup 2021 off to a smooth start, India would look to finalise its batting order for the tournament proper when it takes on Australia in its second and final warm-up game here on Wednesday.
India will clash against Pakistan in its main event lung-opener on Sunday. The tournament will be Virat Kohli's last as skipper in the format besides being the swan song for head coach Ravi Shastri.
As pointed out by Kohli before the warm-up game against England on Monday, India's top three is already settled with KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma opening the batting and the skipper coming in at the crucial number three position.
Having made a stroke-filled 70 before retiring in the seven-wicket win over England, the young Ishan Kishan has also staked his claim for a place in the playing eleven.
Rishabh Pant (29 not out) was promoted ahead of Suryakumar Yadav and it remains to be seen where the latter bats on Wednesday.
Rohit didn't bat against England and come Wednesday, the right-hander is expected to get a go against the Australians.
The talking point, however, remains all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who didn't look comfortable in his brief stay against England.
SQUADS
India : Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.
Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar
Australia : Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams
WHERE TO WATCH T20 WORLD CUP 2021 - INDIA VS ENGLAND WARM-UP LIVE?
The match will be aired LIVE on Star Sports 1 , Star Sports 1 HD , Star Sports 1 Hindi , Star Sports 1 Hindi HD , Star Sports 1 Tamil , Star Sports 1 Telugu and Star Sports 1 Kannada . The match will also be live streamed on Hotstar .
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