India A secured a comprehensive 162-run victory against Australia A in the first unofficial Test held in Puducherry, wrapping up the match shortly after the lunch break on the fourth day. Faced with a target of 363, the visitors were bowled out for 200 on a deteriorating pitch that offered unpredictable bounce and significant turn throughout the final session.
Resuming the day at 55/2, Australia A showed early intent through captain Peter Handscomb and Nathan McSweeney, who managed to find the boundary rope in the opening exchanges. However, the uneven surface soon dictated the terms of the contest. Anshul Kamboj made a vital breakthrough when a delivery reared off a length, catching McSweeney’s glove before looping to gully. Moments later, Handscomb was dismissed after a ball kept alarmingly low, leaving him unable to prevent the ball from rattling his stumps. A complete bowling performance from pacers Anshul Kamboj and Tushar Deshpande led the way after Australia A resumed the final day on 55/2 in pursuit of 363, for the hosts. Leaving Australia A reeling at 124/7, but the offspinner cleverly switched angles and cleaned Sangha up on the sweep. But the uneven bounce in the surface undid both batters in contrasting fashion, mcSweeney and captain Peter Handscomb began positively and picked up a few early boundaries.
Tushar Deshpande then seized control, utilizing reverse swing to dismantle the middle order. He clean-bowled Josh Philippe with a sharp delivery that lacked the expected bounce, and Liam Scott suffered a nearly identical fate shortly after. Off-spinner Tanush Kotian further hindered the Australian response by dismissing Jason Sangha, who had been scoring fluently until an attempted sweep shot resulted in his stumps being disturbed. As the wicketkeeper walked off bemused by the lack of bounce off a length, he castled Josh Philippe with a sharp nip-backer.
A brief resistance followed as Fergus O’Neill and Todd Murphy combined for a 67-run partnership, which stood as the highest stand of the innings. O’Neill attacked the bowling, notably hitting a slog-sweep for six against Kotian. Despite their efforts to survive until the break, Shams Mulani—who claimed four wickets in the first innings—returned to clean up the tail. Mulani dismissed O’Neill for 47, followed by the final two wickets which fell to athletic catches by Sai Sudharsan at leg gully and Shaik Rasheed at long-off.
The victory was built upon a solid first innings of 334, anchored by Kumar Kushagra’s 113, alongside half-centuries from Sai Sudharsan and Tanush Kotian. Australia A were limited to 171 in their first reply. Although India A were dismissed for 199 in their second innings, featuring 59 from Devdutt Padikkal, the total lead of 362 proved insurmountable.
Match Summary: India A 334 (Kumar Kushagra 113, Tanush Kotian 69, Sai Sudharsan 57; Corey Rocchiccioli 4-95, Todd Murphy 3-77) and 199 (Devdutt Padikkal 59, Kumar Kushagra 46*; Todd Murphy 4-48, Brendan Doggett 2-21) defeated Australia A 171 (Jason Sangha 46, Liam Scott 26; Shams Mulani 4-67, Tanush Kotian 2-31) and 200 (Fergus O’Neill 47, Nathan McSweeney 35; Tushar Deshpande 3-14, Shams Mulani 3-57, Anshul Kamboj 2-25) by 162 runs. The Australian batting line-up crumbled with only Nathan McSweeney and Fergus O’Neill offering some kind of resistance, on a pitch where batting became increasingly difficult with the uneven bounce and turn on offer.
