Half centuries from D'Arcy, Nick powers Western Australia to 168/8 against India in ICC T20 World Cup practice match

Perth: Half-centuries from D'Arcy Short and Nick Hobson kept Western Australia's inning together while Ravichandran Ashwin and Harshal Patel did heavy damage with their bowling during India's second practice match for ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at Perth on Thursday.
Put to bat first by India, Western Australia was given an early blow after opener Josh Philippe was dismissed for 8 off 9 balls by Arshdeep Singh with assistance from the safe hands of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. WA was 15/1 at that point. D'Arcy Short and Nick Hobson stabilised the innings, leaving India searching for answers to their batting. The duo put up a partnership of 110 runs and brought up their respective half-centuries.
It was Harshal Patel's pace which broke this partnership, sending back Hobson for 64 off 41 balls. Patel also sent back D'Arcy after running him out for 52 off 38 balls. India made a comeback into the match with these two quick scalps. WA was at 127/3 in 15 overs.
Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin unleashed his deadly spin, taking three wickets to strengthen India's hold in the match. He sent back Cameron Bancroft (6), Ashton Turner (2) and Sam Fanning (0) within a single over to reduce WA to 6/137 in 16.4 overs.
Wickets kept falling as KL Rahul ran out Hamish Mckenzie for 3 off 4 balls. Harshal got his second wicket of the match, dismissing Andrew Tye for 6 off five balls.
WA finished the innings at 168/8 in their 20 overs, with Matthew Kelly (15*) and Jason Behrendorff (0*).
Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for India, bowling a brilliant spell of 3/32 in 4 overs. Harshal Patel took 2 wickets for 27 runs in his four overs. Arshdeep got one wicket and conceded 25 runs in his three overs.
India need 169 runs to win the match. (ANI)