Twitter rages at India skipper Rohit Sharma’s absence from the second warm-up despite being included in the starting XI.

The second warm-up match between India and Western Australia took place at the WACA on Thursday, but captain Rohit Sharma was nowhere to be seen. Given that Rohit was named in the starting XI, his absence was all the more unexpected. KL Rahul was designated as the match’s official captain as India fell to WA by 36 runs. India’s hitters put on a mediocre performance as they concluded at 133/7 in 20 overs while chasing 169 to win. Despite the disintegrating Indian batting, Rohit failed to appear, infuriating the crowd.

The fact that Virat Kohli, who was once again rested and left off the playing XI along with Suryakumar Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, fielded for India was more shocking. The fans cheered loudly for every move Kohli made while fielding at the cover, point gully, and close to the boundary. Fans were thrilled to see their favorite player, Virat Kohli, enjoying the Perth sunshine, but Rohit’s absence saddened them. These are a few of the responses.

It’s a little surprising how the second tie turned out after winning the first warm-up. much more so in light of the batters’ lack of effort. Rahul led India in scoring with 74 off 55 balls. Before demonstrating more focus and scoring 35 runs off the following 16 balls, he scored 39 runs off the first 39 balls. Except for Rahul, the other hitters, Rishabh Pant for 9, Deepak Hooda for 6, Hardik Pandya for 17, and Dinesh Karthik for 10, all had miserable showings.

India might find solace in the fact that R Ashwin took 3/32, taking all three wickets in one over, while Harshal Patel, who had been off of the form, took 2/27. With figures of 1/25, Arshdeep Singh kept things close as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pandya, and Hooda failed to score any runs. India still has two more exhibition games left before facing Pakistan in the T20 World Cup opener on October 17, when they play New Zealand and Australia, respectively.