Suryakumar Yadav's fifty powers India to modest 158/6 against Western Australia in T20 WC practice match

Perth: A gutsy half-century from in-form Suryakumar Yadav and cameos from Deepak Hooda and Hardik Pandya powered Team India to 158/6 in 20 overs in their practice match for ICC T20 World Cup 2022 against Western Australia in Perth on Monday.
It was a sort of underwhelming outing for India with the bat as they kept losing big players at regular intervals. Some players did get starts but they could not capitalise. Electing to bat first, Team India was off to a shaky start as they lost their first wicket at a score of 15. Jason Behrendorff got the big wicket of captain Rohit Sharma, who could manage just three runs.
Deepak Hooda was the next up on the crease, joining opener Rishabh Pant. He scored a quickfire 22 before Behrendorff removed him as well. At the end of the powerplay in six overs, India was at 39/2.
In-form batter Suryakumar Yadav joined Pant. Medium-pacer Andrew Tye dismissed a struggling Pant for nine off 17 balls. India was at 45/3 in seven overs.
Yadav was joined by Hardik Pandya and they helped Men in Blue cross the 50-run mark safely. Halfway through the innings, India was at 64/3 with Suryakumar at 16* and Hardik at 10*.
The duo's 49-run stand ended when pacer Matthew Kelly intervened to remove Pandya for 27 runs.
Dinesh Karthik joined Suryakumar. By the time 15 overs concluded, India had crossed the 100-run mark and were at 108/4.
Suryakumar Yadav continued his lethal run of form, bringing up his half-century. He departed immediately after crossing the landmark for 52 runs and India was at 129/5 in 17 overs.
All eyes were on Karthik to finish off things on a great note. Team India concluded their innings at 158/6, with Karthik (19*) and Harshal Patel (6*) standing unbeaten.
Jason Behrendorff had a very good outing with the ball. (ANI)