India A Women closed out their commanding position against Australia A Women in style, winning the only unofficial Test at the I.S. Bindra PCA Stadium, Mohali, by 281 runs. Set a target of 446, Australia A were bowled out for 164 in 76 overs on the third day, with the match wrapping up inside three of its scheduled four days.
Left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, who had already taken 6 for 52 in Australia A's first innings, backed it up with 3 for 58 in the second to finish with a match haul of 9 for 110. Her bowling did the early damage both times Australia A batted, repeatedly breaking up partnerships before they could get established on a pitch that offered turn throughout the match.
Niki Prasad was named Player of the Match for an all-round performance across both innings. She top-scored with 91 off 112 balls (14 fours, 2 sixes) in India A's first innings of 364, chipped in with 2 for 27 as Australia A were bowled out for 176 in reply, and then took 5 for 50 to run through the second-innings chase. Few players in a four-day match get to influence the result with bat and ball in both innings; Prasad did exactly that.
Batting again with a 188-run first-innings lead already banked, India A declared their second innings on 257, built on a half-century from Priya Punia (59) and a quickfire 48 from Anushka Sharma. The declaration left Australia A needing 446 to win or, more realistically, needing to survive what remained of the match on a deteriorating surface.
Australia A's second innings produced one period of genuine resistance — an opening stand of 66 between captain Rachel Trenaman (44) and Tahlia Wilson (35) — before Vaishnavi Sharma and the rest of India A's bowling attack worked through the rest of the order. Eighteen wickets fell on the third day alone as both sides' spinners dominated, and Australia A were all out for 164, handing India A a thumping 281-run win and a clean sweep of the series after already winning the one-day leg 2-1 ahead of the Test.
A-team fixtures like this one are watched closely by national selectors, and a result built on a maiden match-defining all-round show from Niki Prasad and back-to-back five-plus-wicket hauls from Vaishnavi Sharma is exactly the kind of form that tends to feed into senior squad conversations. For a bowler who had already taken six wickets in the first innings, following it up with three more and finishing the match with nine is the strongest possible case to make heading into the next selection window.
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The final scores, player figures and match margin in this article are verified against same-day and freshly re-checked reporting, current as of October 2, 2026.
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