It was the first time Smith had passed 50 since an unbeaten 86 for NSW in a Marsh One-Day Cup match against Queensland last March.

In a properly balanced lineup, wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who is lucky to be in the side at all, would be batting at six with bowling allrounder Ashton Agar at seven as part of an attack featuring five specialist bowlers.

However, the batting looks thin without Stoinis at six given the struggles at the top of the order and Wade’s unreliable performances, particularly down the list.

This leaves the lively medium pace of allrounders Marsh and Stoinis to make up the overs of the third seamer, while one of Australia’s two good performers in the IPL, opening bowler Josh Hazlewood, sits in the sheds.

Marsh was the most expensive of the bowlers in Australia’s narrow victory against New Zealand on Monday and his two overs went for 17 against India.

Stoinis bowled for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury a month ago when the IPL resumed in the UAE. He finished with 0-16 from his two overs.

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The other choice for third seamer, Kane Richardson, finished with 0-20 from 1.5 overs, although he took three wickets as Australia’s most impactful bowler against New Zealand two days earlier.

Pat Cummins arrived late to the UAE after becoming a father for the first time and bowled accordingly, conceding three sixes to finish with 0-33 from his four overs.

Such was India’s low-key attitude to the practice match that skipper Virat Kolhi gave the captaincy to Sharma but bowled himself.

Kolhi’s two overs for 12 runs were delivered a bit like Max Walker in slow motion, releasing the ball before his front foot was properly planted and delivering it from closer to his left ear than his right.

Equally modest was the bowling of Varun Chakravarthy, who is described as a leg-spinner. He conceded 23 from his two overs and is unlikely to feature much, if at all, in the tournament proper.

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