T20 World Cup 2021: Watch - R Ashwin Dents Australia With Wickets Of David Warner And Mitchell Marsh On Consecutive Balls

Senior India off-spinner R Ashwin struck twice on back-to-back balls to rattle Australia‘s top-order during the warm-up game on Wednesday at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai.

Australia captain Aaron Finch had won the toss and elected to bat first in this warm-up fixture. However, his side got off to a poor start courtesy of a double blow from R Ashwin, who was called up to bowl the second over.

On his fifth ball, R Ashwin dismissed David Warner first. The left-hander missed a reverse sweep to a quicker delivery that came in on straight from Ashwin’s round the wicket angle. Warner was given out by the umpire and since there are no reviews available in the warm-up games, he couldn’t challenge the decision.

Mitchell Marsh, celebrating his 30th birthday, had a short stay as R Ashwin sent him back for a first-ball duck. Marsh was done for the lack of turn on that delivery as he hung his bat outside off-stump to defend but nicked it to Rohit Sharma at slip. The off-spinner gained India an early upper hand, leaving Australia reeling at 6/2.

India spinners strike early; Smith-Maxwell build up partnership

After electing to bat first, Australia got off to a dismal start. R Ashwin struck twice in the second over of the innings to dismiss David Warner and Mitchell Marsh, getting the left-hander out lbw while the right-hander nicked to slip. Ravindra Jadeja then trapped Aaron Finch lbw as Australia suffered to 11/3.

Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell then build up the innings. Maxwell took a couple of fours off Jadeja in the sixth over, for Australia to end the powerplay at 34/3.

Virat Kohli, who is resting from batting duties today, came on to bowl the 7th over with his non-threatening medium pace as India look for their bowling options going into the tournament with Hardik Pandya yet not fit enough to bowl his quota of overs.

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Watch: R Ashwin Dents Australia With Wickets Of David Warner And Mitchell Marsh