India will face Australia in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai on Tuesday. This match comes less than 36 hours after India’s victory against New Zealand at the same venue.
India’s success on Sunday with their spin-focused strategy has raised questions about whether they will maintain their four-spinner approach or add another pace bowler to support Mohammed Shami and allrounder Hardik Pandya.
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The Indian team may be considering utilising Varun Chakaravarthy‘s mystery spin bowling against Australia in Dubai’s spacious playing field. Their four-spinner strategy proved effective against New Zealand, making a modest total difficult to chase.
Rohit Sharma admitted to being in a tricky position.
“He has got something different about him, so wanted to try and see what he had to offer. We got to think a little about what to do for the next game, it’s a good headache. If he gets it right, it’s very difficult to read him,” the skipper said in the post-match presentation.
For Australia, the injured Matt Short’s replacement presents a choice between aggressive batter Jake Fraser-McGurk and spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly. Josh Inglis, who scored his first century against England in Lahore, might open the batting.
India’s predicted XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Australia’s predicted XI: Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Cooper Connolly, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Spencer Johnson, Adam Zampa.
Squads
India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana.
Australia Squad: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson, Sean Abbott, Aaron Hardie, Tanveer Sangha, Cooper Connolly.
