Rohit Sharma: Challenged Shami by giving him the last over, you saw what he did

India captain Rohit Sharma has said he wanted to challenge Mohammed Shami by giving him the final over during India's warm-up game against Australia.

Shami picked up two wickets and enforced a run out in the final over on Monday as India defeated Australia by six runs in a close encounter at the Gabba, Brisbane. Australia, who were cruising to a victory in the T20 World Cup 2022 warm-up game, lost Kane Richardson, Ashton Agar, and Pat Cummins in their chase of 187.

The Indian pacer last played a T20I last year during the T20 World Cup in the UAE. He had a fine run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that earned him a place in India's reserves for the T20 World Cup. However, an injury to Jasprit Bumrah saw Shami find a place in India's main squad for the ICC event, which began on Sunday Down Under.

"I thought we batted well, towards the end we could have added 10-15 runs more. We always want a set batter to stay till the end, SKY did it, overall a great batting effort with nice bounce, was a pitch where you can trust your shots. You got to be smart with batting on grounds like these. You can't forget to push the balls into the gaps, scoring 8-9 runs in an over can be quite an effective plan. It was a great practice game for us," said Rohit, who only managed 15 runs in the first innings.

The Indian skipper went on to add that there was still room for improvement and that he needed more consistency from his bowlers.

"There is room for improvement, but I want more consistency from the bowlers. You need to keep things simple and hit the deck hard. Overall a good game for us, they had a decent partnership and that put us under pressure. He (Shami) 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 the final over, and you saw what he did," added Rohit.

T20 World Cup 2022: 'Happy with my form,' says Aaron Finch

Meanwhile, Australia captain Aaron Finch singled out Richardson with praise as the fast bowler made four breakthroughs, claiming crucial wickets of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Richardson finished with figures of 4 for 30 in his quota of four overs.

"We learned that we need to be clinical towards the back-end, we didn't capitalize towards the end. We did drag them back after that blistering start from KL, happy with my own form. He's fantastic (on Kane Richardson), every opportunity he gets for Australia, he's there performing, and that shows the depth of our pace bowling unit. 22nd will be a great day, looking to start off on a winning note, playing against New Zealand and at the SCG will be always special," said Finch after the game in Brisbane.

While Australia were scheduled to play just one warm-up game in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup Super 12s, India are set to play one more game. The Men in Blue will take on New Zealand at The Gabba on Wednesday (Oct. 19).

India will begin their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign by facing off against Pakistan on Oct. 23 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), while Australia will take on the BlackCaps on Oct. 22 at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).