Before the India vs Australia semi-final clash, India played against New Zealand in the final group-stage encounter, and the match ended up being a nail-biting thriller.
The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy witnessed many such terrific games, the first of them being the Australia vs. England Group B fixture, which marked a record made and broken in the same game. 700+ runs were scored between the two teams in the game, where the Aussies successfully chased the highest Champions Trophy total.
The next exciting encounter was the England vs. Afghanistan match that marked a nail-biting thriller, won by Afghanistan by just 6 runs. India vs. New Zealand was the match where the Men in Blue defended the lowest total for this Champions Trophy.
India, having made only 249 in their 50 overs, struggled early on in their batting innings, and no one expected the match to end in their favour.
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Varun Chakravarthy’s magic at Dubai
Indian spin superstar Varun Chakravarthy showed what he is capable of on his Champions Trophy debut against New Zealand. The 33-year-old spinner starred in just the second game of his ODI career after he made his debut last month against England in the final ODI, where he also picked his maiden international wicket.
Chakravarthy was in peak form in T20s before being added to the ODI squad and next in the ICC Champions Trophy squad, where he was a late inclusion into the ICC tournament. Chakravrthy and Harshit Rana were included after Jasprit Bumrah was excluded from India’s Champions Trophy squad.
Chakravarthy picked a stunning 5-for on his Champions Trophy debut and became only the fifth player to do so, while the second Indian in the list after Mohammed Shami, who also embraced the same record on his Champions Trophy debut against Bangladesh in this edition of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
Chakravarthy picked 5-42, the best figures for India in the Champions Trophy, and also won the Player of the Match award on this occasion. Having such a huge impact over the win of India, Chakravarthy has made some serious contention for the India vs Australia semi-final playing 11.
India vs Australia: Will India dare to play with only one pacer against the mighty Aussies?
Though the tracks of Dubai have considerately helped spin bowling due to the naturally slow nature of the pitch, Aussie players like Travis Head, Steve Smith, and Glenn Maxwell are known to be the cleanest strikers of the ball when it comes to handling spin bowling.
Having only Mohammed Shami as the lead pacer and considering Hardik Pandya as the second-pace bowling option might not come in handy with the new ball since powerplays often play a huge role in such crucial games, especially with a batter like Travis Head at the top.
Considering four spinners, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel, would imply that India leaves out Harshit Rana for the vital clash, which would then be a very daring call made by the Indian management and Gautam Gambhir.
India’s probable playing XI for the India vs Australia 1st semi-final
Rohit Sharma [C], Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana/Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakravarthy.
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