Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, two of India's most important batsmen in Aussie conditions, did the job with the bat, before Barinder Sran showed enough promise to get those heads nodding in approval as India enjoyed a nice evening at the WACA in Perth against a Western Australia XI.
Choosing to bat first, the Indians did not get off the greatest of starts, losing Rohit Sharma – the third of India's big three at the top of the order – in the third over of the match, after the elegant right-hander ran himself out, going for a single to mid-on that was never there.
However, Dhawan and Kohli found their mojo with the bat at the right time, putting on 149 runs together in a touch over 14 overs to take the game away from this understrength Western Australia XI.
Dhawan (74, 46b, 8x4, 3x6) was especially impressive, getting those gorgeous cover drives out of his locker, with the left-hander also quite severe on anything that was dropped short. Kohli (74, 44b, 7x4, 3x4) got into that everything-is-outta-here zone in the second half of his innings, and once he was there, the Western Australia XI bowlers were left scratching their heads, wondering what to do.
MS Dhoni (22, 14b, 1x4, 2x6) came in towards the end of the innings and played a nice little cameo, hitting a couple of big sixes off pull shots to take India to 192/4 in 20 overs.
The chase was never really a chase, with Western Australia losing wickets at regular intervals. Sran, putting on that India shirt for the first time, looked a little nervous to begin with, bowling a few wides, but once he settled into a rhythm, the 23-year-old left-armer showed just why he is so highly rated.
Sran (4-0-24-2) picked up his first wicket with a short ball that hurried onto D'Arcy Short, with the batsman only able to plonk one to R Ashwin at midwicket. In his next over, Sran had the Western Australia XI captain Will Bosisto, yet again, off a short delivery.
With two wickets gone and nowhere near the required run rate, Western Australia never got into the chase-groove – only Travis Birt got any run of note, scoring 74 from 60 balls -- and the two left-arm orthodox bowlers of India – Ravindra Jadeja (3-0-13-2) and Axar Patel (3-0-13-2) – helped themselves to a couple of wickets as well, with the home team finishing on 118/6.
