Australia A 274 (McSweeney 123, Sutherland 77, Shedge 4-40, Thakur 3-47) beat India A 149 (Patidar 53, Beardman 4-23, Johnson 2-36) by 125 runs

McSweeney was the Player of the Match for scoring his second List A century, a career-best of 123 off 135 balls. Sutherland, though, was the more attacking batter of the two. While he started patiently to help Australia A rebuild with 36 off his first 47 deliveries, he bashed 41 runs off his next 21 balls. That included four sixes off Anukul Roy, three of which came back-to-back in the 39th over, as the momentum drifted further away from India A.

But the hosts had a bright start with the ball. Yash Thakur extracted pace and bounce off a slow surface in Puducherry to remove both Australia A openers off short balls. A stunning catch at slip by Devdutt Padikkal dismissed Josh Philippe, before McSweeney and Liam Scott added 47 for the fourth wicket.

McSweeney dragged Australia A to 274, which proved more than enough as Beardman set upA Australia A’s bowling defense with the ball. He consistently clocked 140kph-plus, bothered the India A batters with bounce, and bowled a decisive spell in the powerplay. Beardman had B Sai Sudharsan gloving one to the wicketkeeper, Padikkal driving aerially to mid-off, and Prabhsimran Singh slashing to point.

India A had lost their top three inside four overs, by which time Beardman’s figures read 2-0-2-3.

Sindhu started with just five runs off his first 16 balls, with India A 68 for 4 in 16 overs. He led a counterattack by helping India A score 37 off the next six overs, during which he hit three fours and a six. However, Sam Konstas’ superb diving catch at deep cover point ended Sindhu’s stay at 31, and then, Patidar kept losing partners. Patidar brought up his own fifty in the 32nd over, before falling to a short delivery next ball.

Whatever outside chance India A had of victory evaporated with Patidar’s dismissal for 53, as they lost 4 for 11 to be bowled out for 149 and go 0-1 down in the three-match series.