With the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to begin on October 16, India defeated Western Australia by 13 runs in their first warm-up match at WACA in Perth. Chasing a target of 159 runs, Western Australia managed to reach 145/8. Sam Fanning fought a lone battle and batted well to score a brilliant 59. Young pacer Arshdeep Singh was in good form and took three wickets for India. Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar scalped two wickets.

With the likes of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli rested, Rishabh Pant was promoted as an opener. Rohit Sharma struggled against left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff and departed for just 3. Pant also struggled to score quick runs during his sluggish knock of 9 off 17-ball. Promoted to no.3, Deepak Hooda scored a brisk 22 before Behrendorff dismissed him.

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya batted excellently to add 49-runs for the fourth wicket. Pandya’s quickfire 27 helped India to rebuild the innings after the slow start. Suryakumar continued his red-hot form by smashing an incredible half-century. He hit three boundaries and as many sixes in his 35-ball 52 while Dinesh Karthik remained unbeaten on 19 to help India amass 158/6 in 20 overs.

In reply, Arshdeep and Bhuvneshwar ran through the hosts’ top order and reduced them to 12/4 in 3 overs. Cameron Bancroft gave some hope by scoring 22-runs. Fanning and Hamish McKenzie (19) showed some resistance to put a partnership of 58-runs for the sixth wicket. But Indian bowlers took regular wickets to register a win. India will meet Australia and New Zealand in the next warm-up matches.