Indians beat Western Australia XI by 74 runs in practice game

Star batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli struck fluent half-centuries as Indians registered a comfortable 74-run victory over Western Australian XI in the Twenty20 practice game at the WACA Ground here on Friday.

The visitors are scheduled to play five One-Day Internationals (ODI) starting on January 12 here Perth followed by three Twenty20 Internationals against hosts Australia.

Dhawan (74) and Kohli (74) helped India post a challenging total of 192/4 in 20 overs.

In reply, Western Australian XI were restricted tor 118/6 in 20 overs.

For the visitors, Ravindra Jadeja (2/13), Axar Patel (2/13) and Barinder Sran (2/24) were the pick of the bowlers.

Opting to bat first, India lost an early wicket when Rohit Sharma (6) was run out in the third over, but soon after it became the Dhawan and Kohli show.

The pair took some time to settle down but as the innings progressed the duo started to break free and smacked the inexperienced Western Australian bowling line-up to all parts of the ground to notch up 149-run partnership for the second wicket.

The partnership ended in the 17th over when Kohli was caught behind by Josh Inglis off Josh Nicholas. He struck seven fours and three sixes in his 44-ball knock.

Dhawan too fell in the next over after hitting eight fours and three sixes in 46 deliveries.

Incoming batsman skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a quick-fire 22 not out off 14 to help India cross the 190-run mark.

In reply, Western Australia's players never looked comfortable to chase down the big score as they lost wickets at regular intervals to make task easy for the Indians.

Opener Travis Birt (74 not out) was the only batsman who looked settled in the entire line-up.

Besides Birt, Josh Inglis (11) was the only player to cross the one-digit mark.

Brief Scores: Indians 192/4 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 74, Virat Kohli 74) vs Western Australia XI 118/6 in 20 overs (Travis Birt 74 not out; Ravindra Jadeja 2/13 and Axar Patel 2/13, Barinder Sran 2/24)