Dubai 4 march 2025 : Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat against India in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy in Dubai on Tuesday.
Australia made two changes from their previous match playing XI, bringing in Cooper Connolly for injured Matthews Short and Tanveer Sangha for Spencer Johnson.
India fielded the same playing XI of their previous match.
The ‘Men in Blue’ would rely on a potent spin battery and familiarity with the conditions to break the knockout jinx against an undermanned Australia.
It will not be a straightforward task, though, as the Aussies are a resilient beast in global tournaments even without their lead cast of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.
Their stunning chase of 352 against England at Lahore a few days back validates the thought.
The last time India triumphed against Australia in the knockout stage of an ICC event was way back in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal.
India lost to Australia in the semifinals of the 2015 ODI World Cup and in the title clash of the 2023 ODI World Cup before succumbing to them in the World Test Championship final in 2023.
Hence, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill will be eager to go full throttle at them in Dubai. They have found the perfect rhythm of batting on the sluggish tracks in Dubai.
Skipper Rohit hoped as much. “It is going to be a good game. Australia has a rich history of playing well in ICC tournaments. Now, it’s about us to do things right. We have to be focussed on what we need to do on that day. Looking forward to that, hopefully we can stitch one towards us,” he said after the match against New Zealand.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.
Australia: Steven Smith (c), Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha
Summary: Australia won the toss and opted to bat first against India in the Champions Trophy semi-final, aiming for a strong start in the match.