Bumrah's replacement Shami sizzles in four-wicket over as India edge out Australia in T20 World Cup warm-up

Mohammad Shami put concerns over his fitness to rest with a sensational 20th over as India pulled off a six-run win over Australia in ir first warm-up fixture of T20 World Cup here on Monday.

K L Rahul (57 off 33) and Suryakumar Yadav (50 off 33) smashed entertaining half-centuries to power India to 186 for seven after Australia opted to bowl at Gabba.

Needing 16 runs off last 12 balls with six wickets in hand, Australia were on course for a comfortable win before Shami, Harshal Patel and Virat Kohli fielder scripted a turnaround for India.

Shami, who last played a competitive game in July and landed here after suffering a long bout of COVID-19, turned up to bowl last over of game and made a decisive impact on game.

He landed yorker after yorker and ended up with three wickets in over besides a run out. Shami was drafted into squad as a replacement for injured Jasprit Bumrah. In penultimate over, under-fire Harshal Patel delivered after being hammered early on, as he conceded only five runs in an over that also included a brilliant run out off a Kohli direct hit.

star India batter had also plucked a stunning one-handed catch out of thin air at boundary line to dismiss Pat Cummins.

However, concerns over India's bowling remains ahead of ir tournament opener against Pakistan on October 23.

"re is room for improvement, but I want more consistency from bowlers. You need to keep things simple and hit deck hard. Overall a good game for us, y had a decent partnership and that put us under pressure," said skipper Rohit Sharma. On Shami's match-winning effort, he said: "He is coming back after a long time, so we wanted to give him an over. Wanted to give him a challenge and let him bowl final over, and you saw what he did." Earlier, Indian batters enjoyed pace and bounce of wicket, especially Rahul who scored bulk of runs in powerplay, taking his team to 69 for loss.

Rohit (15 off 14) was a mere spectator at or end as Rahul came up with one classy hit after ar.

During a 78-run stand between openers, Rohit hardly got to bat and could open his account only in fifth over.

Rahul, whose strike rate has been questioned in past, looked like he was back to his best after coming back from an injury lay off.

His innings comprised delightful cover drivers off pacers while his standout shots were two sixes off Cummins, one was a crisp pull while or was a whip off a good length ball, which sailed over deep midwicket.

Barring Hardik Pandya (2), who was outdone by a slower ball from Kane Richardson, all Indian batters got to spend some valuable time in middle.

bigger boundaries in Australia are already making an impact with Kohli (19 off 13), Dinesh Karthik (20 off 14), Rohit and Rahul getting caught in deep.

Karthik walked across stumps to dispatch Kane Richardson over deep mid-wicket but was caught by Glenn Maxwell just inside boundary ropes. It would have been a six at a ground in India.

Kohli was bounced out by Mitchell Starc to be caught at fine leg while Rohit's slog sweep landed in safe hands of Maxwell.

After a high-quality kck, Rahul could t give a long hop from Maxwell due punishment and was caught at deep midwicket.

With start India got, y should have reached 200 but could t do so.

re was also ar fine kck from Suryakumar, who had also scored a fifty against Western Australia in Perth. He and Rahul also got taste of extra bounce as y both were hit on helmet.