Flintoff, Illingworth star as Australia A crush India A

Fast bowlers Tess Flintoff and Milly Illingworth were the stars as Australia A bowled India A out for 117 before completing a routine chase with ease in the first unofficial women's T20I in New Chandigarh.

India A was on the ropes at 50 for 6 when Australia A's bowlers bowled the ninth over, but the visitors prevailed convincingly despite some lower-order resistance.

India A chose to bat, but from the second over on, things started going wrong for them. Dinesh Vrinda, the opener, was bowled out by Flintoff, and India A captain Anushka Sharma was run out by Sianna Ginger in the next over. In the fifth over, Flintoff struck again, removing Shipra Giri, the other opener, before Illingworth, who played for Mumbai Indians Women in WPL 2026, got in on the act.

Illingworth was brought into the attack in the eighth over. With her first ball, she castled Niki Prasad and then did the same thing with Shweta Sehrawat to end the over, taking out two highly regarded Indian batters.

Illingworth took the catch when Tejal Hasabnis fell to Charli Knott's offspin with a 15-ball 22 after offering some pushback. This was Illingworth's second wicket.

Minnu Mani, batting in the lower middle order, was India's best batswoman, scoring 14 balls with three fours and one six. But while Mani was going about her business, Flintoff picked up her third by having allrounder Tanuja Kanwar caught behind in the 12th over.

Mani nicked off as well in the next over, giving Darcie Brown her only wicket of the game. After that, Sayali Satghare held firm, allowing India to bat out five more overs for their final two wickets, even as Flintoff took Jintimani Kalita for four runs and Ginger took the final wicket off the 19th ball of the innings, bringing India's total to 117.

In response, Australia did lose two wickets in the powerplay but were always ahead of the asking rate. A 43-run stand between Knott and Katie Mack then effectively ended any hopes for an Indian comeback. It was Anushka who broke that stand with Mack's wicket, and she doubled her tally by removing Knott for 35, but Anika Learoyd's unbeaten 33 off 19 deliveries sealed the win for Australia with six overs, and as many wickets to spare.