Spinner Minnu Mani. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Spinners Minnu Mani and Priya Mishra shared nine wickets between them as India A bundled out Australia A for a paltry 212 to gain a massive upper hand on the first day of the four-day one-off women’s ‘unofficial’ Test here on Thursday (August 22, 2024).

Skipper and off-spinner Minnu (5/58) and rookie leg-spinner Priya (4/58) put the Australian batting unit in a tailspin as they lost all the 10 wickets to the visiting slow bowlers.

India A reached a strong 100 for two at stumps and they trail by 112 runs. The Australian batters struggled against Indian spinners and it was a continuation of the third ODI last week when Priya troubled them with a five-wicket haul at Mackay.

Opener Georgia Voll (71, 95 balls, 12×4) was fluent during her stay, but she fell to left-arm spinner Mannat Kashyap as the Australians slumped to 94 for four. It required stiff resistance from their late-order batters Maitlan Brown (30, 49b, 2×4) and Grace Parsons (35, 55b, 3×4) for the hosts to go past the 200-run mark.

India lost Priya Punia (7) very early in their innings to get reduced to 13 for one, and later Shubha Satheesh also departed without contributing much. At 47 for two, India needed a steadying partnership and Shweta Sehrawat (40 batting, 109b, 3×4) provided that in the company of Tejal Hasabnis (31 batting, 64b, 2×4).

The third wicket pair has so far added 53 runs and they will be looking to take India closer to the Australian total on the second day.

Brief Scores

Australia A: 212 all out in 65.5 overs (Georgia Voll 71; Minnu Mani 5/58, Priya Mishra 4/58) vs India A: 100/2 in 36 overs (Shweta Sehrawat 40 batting, Tejal Hasabnis 31 batting).

The India A women’s team ahead of travelling to Australia for the multi-format tour.
| Photo Credit:  BCCI/X

Rookie leg-spinner Priya Mishra grabbed five wickets while Tejal Hasabnis and Raghvi Bist scored half-centuries as India A thrashed Australia A by 171-run in the third and final one-dayer here on Sunday (August 18, 2024).

India A finally achieved success in the third and final one-dayer after having lost five successive games — three T20s in Brisbane and two one-dayers here — in the six-match white-ball series.

India A scored a modest 243/9, thanks to middle-order batter Tejal’s 66-ball 50 and Raghvi’s 64-ball 53 before 20-year-old Delhi cricketer Priya took a fifer (5/14) to dismiss the Australia A batting for just 72 runs for a massive win.

Playing in only her first match on the tour, Priya dismissed opener Maddy Darke (22) and top-order batter Tess Flintoff (20) as the home team was left reeling at 52/4 in the 15th over of the chase.

She then destroyed the middle order taking the wickets of Nicole Faltum (2), Kate Peterson (1), and Nicola Hancock (0) as the hosts were dismissed in 22.1 over, which gave India A a consolation win.

The one-off unofficial Test will be played in Gold Coast from August 22.

Earlier, a 104-run partnership between Tejal and Raghvi helped India A overcome a shaky start, which saw them reeling at 43/3 in the ninth over.

The duo, which has stood out in the series for its batting, then carried the team to 147 before Tejal was dismissed in the 28th over. Raghvi too followed suit before Sajeevan Sajana (40) and captain Minnu Mani (34) took the team beyond the 200-run mark.

Brief scores: India A 243 for 9 in 50 overs (Tejal Hasabnis 50, Raghvi Bist 53, Sajeevan Sajana 40, Minnu Mani 34; Maitlan Brown 3/39, Charli Knott 2/26). Australia A 72 in 22.1 overs (Priya Mishra 5/14, Minnu Mani 2/4).