Team India, on Thursday, faced a major defeat from Western Australia in their second and last warm-up fixture at W.A.C.A. Ground in Perth. The tourists suffered a shocking 35-run loss after failing to chase down the target of 169.

Bowling first, the Men in Blue started well as Arshdeep Singh drew the first blood in the form of Josh Philippe (8) when the team’s score read 15. However, then Nick Hobson and D’Arcy Short joined hands to bail out Western Australia.

Both Hobson and Short smashed their respective half-centuries in the contest and formed a crucial partnership of 110 runs for the second wicket to put Australia in a decent position. While Hobson made 64 off 41, Short scored 52 from 38 as the hosts looked strong to cruise through a big total.

Before the duo could capitalise further, the Indian bowlers brought back the visitors in the game by removing both Hobson and Short and thereby picking regular wickets to restrict Western Australia to 168/8 in 20 overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers as the right-arm spinner picked up a brilliant three-wicket haul for 32 in his quota of 4 overs. Similarly, Harshal Patel also bagged a couple of scalps for 27 in 4 overs.

In response, India kept losing wickets at regular intervals to eventually reach 132/8, losing the contest by 36 runs. Captain KL Rahul was the only major highlight in the Indian innings. The Karnataka stalwart did his best and scored a brilliant knock of 74 runs from 55 deliveries, including nine fours and two sixes, but he didn’t get enough support from other batters.

After Rahul, Hardik Pandya, with 17, was the second-highest run-getter in the Indian innings. For the hosts, Lance Morris and Matthew Kelly were the leading wicket takers. Both Morris (2/23) and Kelly (2/26) picked up a couple of wickets in the contest.

Here is how Twitter reacted:


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