India A completed a commanding 162-run win over Australia A in the first unofficial Test at the Cricket Association Puducherry Siechem Ground on September 25, with spinner Shams Mulani taking seven wickets in the match and captain Devdutt Padikkal contributing a fifty on his leadership debut.
India A posted 334 in their first innings, built around Kumar Kushagra's century, then bowled Australia A out for 171 to take a first-innings lead. Padikkal's fluent 59 off 88 balls in the second innings pushed India A on before they folded for 199, leaving Australia A to chase a target well past 350. The tourists never got close, collapsing to 200 all out as India A closed out the match by 162 runs — the final tallies reading India A 334 and 199 to Australia A's 171 and 200.
Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani finished with match figures of 7 for 124, following up his 4 for 67 in the first innings with three more wickets in the second, including Australia A's second-innings top scorer Fergus O'Neill (47), caught at deep midwicket. It's the latest strong showing in a domestic season where Mulani has repeatedly been among the wickets, keeping his name firmly in the frame for India's spin-bowling depth chart.
Padikkal, the RCB batter handed the India A captaincy for this series, said before the match that leadership responsibility tends to sharpen his own batting — and his second-innings 59 backed that up, giving India A the platform to set an imposing target. Leading a side to a 162-run win in his first match in charge is as strong a start as a new captain could ask for, particularly with the second unofficial Test still to come.
These unofficial Tests function as a direct selection audition ahead of India's home season, and a win built on runs from both an established name in Kushagra and a fifty from the returning Padikkal, backed by a seven-wicket haul from Mulani, gives selectors plenty to note across both disciplines. For Australia A, the tourists will need a sharper batting effort in the second innings of the next match after twice failing to bat out the full quota of overs in this one.
The two sides move on to the second and final unofficial Test, running from September 29 to October 2, before India A also face Australia A in three unofficial ODIs on October 6, 9 and 11.
Live scores from the series are available on SportGod's live matches page, with more India cricket coverage on SportGod's blog and AI-powered match previews on SportGod's predictions page.
Scorecard figures are verified against same-day match reporting on the conclusion of the first unofficial Test, current as of September 25, 2026.
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