T20 World Cup 2022: India loses a practice match against Western Australia

Western Australia posted a challenging total of 168 at a loss of 8 wickets as D'Arcy Short, and Nick Hobson scored their respective fifties. In response, India was restricted to 132/8 in 20 overs despite KL Rahul's valiant knock of 55-ball 74.

Who flopped among the Indian players?

With eight batters that India tested in this game, only KL Rahul could play his natural game. 

Team India opened with the pair of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. KL Rahul played his natural game, scoring 74 with nine fours and two sixes, but other batters struggled to find the right momentum. 

Rishabh Pant struggled as he could score only nine from 11, of which one was six. As he failed to display authority in the shortest format in opportunities given, he might likely be restricted to the bench. 

Deepak Hooda, coming in at three, failed to anchor and show his heroics as he got dismissed for six runs. In the first game as well, he scored a mere 22 runs when more was expected. 

Hardik Pandya began with a couple of sixes but eventually got out for nine balls 17. Even the designated finisher, Dinesh Karthik, failed to get going as he fetched just 14 runs. In short, India's batting line-up missed the consistency that the presence of Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, and Rohit Sharma brings in. 

What's next for team India before they clash with Pakistan on October 23?

Shifting their camp from Perth, where India played two warm-up matches with Western Australia to get used to Australia's pace and bounce, the squad moves to Brisbane for official warm-up games against Australia and New Zealand on October 17 and 19, respectively. 

In these matches, India is likely to finalise their pace-attack, which is still under experimentation due to injuries, to gear their playing XI for opening the campaign against Pakistan on October 23 in Melbourne.