Tess Flintoff, Milly Illingworth lead Australia A's rout of 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.

Australia A's bowlers had India A on the ropes at 50 for 6 in the ninth over, and some lower-order resistance was not enough to prevent the visitors from recording a convincing victory.

India A chose to bat, but things started going wrong for them from the second over itself. Flintoff removed opener Dinesh Vrinda and India A skipper Anushka Sharma fell to Sianna Ginger in the next over. Flintoff struck again in the fifth over, removing the other opener Shipra Giri, before Illingworth - who was part of Mumbai Indians Women in WPL 2026 - got in the act.

Introduced to the attack in the eighth over, Illingworth castled Niki Prasad with her first ball, and then repeated the act against Shweta Sehrawat to close out the over, accounting for two highly rated Indian batters.

Off the very next ball, Illingworth was involved in another wicket, this time taking the catch as Tejal Hasabnis fell to Charli Knott's offspin after offering some pushback with a 15-ball 22.

India's brightest spark with the bat came from the lower-middle order in the form of Minnu Mani, who hit three fours and a six during her 14-ball 23. 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. Sayali Satghare then held firm, allowing India to bat out five more overs for their last two wickets, even as Flintoff picked off Jintimani Kalita to complete a four-for and Ginger wrapped up the innings with the final wicket off the last ball of the 19th over, with India dragging themselves 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.