Perth, Jan 8: India started off their Australia tour on a winning note as they defeated Western Australia XI (WA XI) by 74 runs in a Twenty20 warm-up game here today.

Ind-Aus series schedule

After Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan led the team to 192/4 in 20 overs, Indian bowlers restricted the hosts at 118/6 while coming to defend their mammoth total.

Young seamer Barinder Sran, who is on his debut tour, gave the side its first break through and ended his quota of 4 overs and bagged 2 wickets and gave 24 runs. Spinners Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja too scalped 2 wickets each.

Earlier, at the WACA Ground on Friday (January 8), Kohli and Dhawan both hit 74 runs each to propel India to a good score. Captain MS Dhoni too contributed with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 22.

Left-handed opener Dhawan took 46 balls for his 74 while Kohli, at number three, faced 44 deliveries for the same score. The Delhi duo added 149 runs for the 2nd wicket after Rohit Sharma (6) fell cheaply (run out) in the 3rd over. (Non-bailable warrant against Dhoni)

Dhawan hit 8 fours and 3 sixes while Kohli had 7 fours and 3 sixes in his knock. Dhoni's 14-ball 22 not out contained 1 four and 2 sixes. Both Dhawan and Kohli were dismissed in the space of 10 balls. Ajinkya Rahane scored 6 while Gurkeerat Singh faced only 1 ball and was not out on 0.

In this practice match, both sides are allowed to use their full squad but only 11 can bat and field.

India and Australia will play 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is, starting from January 12 (Tuesday) at the same venue. The visitors will face Western Australia XI in another practice game, a 50-over contest, tomorrow (January 9).

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Scores in brief

India 192/4 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 74 (46 balls, 8x4, 3x6), Virat Kohli 74 (44 balls, 7x4, 3x6), MS Dhoni 22 not out (14 balls, 1x4, 2x6), Ryan Duffield 1/21, Josh Nicholas 1/44, Matthew Kelly 1/31) Vs

Western Australia XI 118/6 in 20 overs (Travis Birt 74 not out (60 balls, 11X4), Barinder Sran 2/24, Ravindra Jadeja 2/13, Axar Patel 2/13))

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Squads

WA XI: Will Bosisto (captain), Travis Birt, Darcy Short, Josh Inglis, Jaron Morgan, Nick Hobson, Matt Kelly, Josh Nicholas, James Muirhead, Ryan Duffield, David Moody, Liam O'Connor.

India: MS Dhoni (captain), Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishi Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Ravichandran Ashwin, Barinder Sarn, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami.

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