India and Australia are set to lock horns for the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy at the Dubai International stadium today. While the Men in Blue will be hoping to nurse the wounds of 2023 ODI World Cup, the Aussies would aim to continue the strong record they hold in ICC knockout events.
India, led by Rohit Sharma, has won three games on the trot, defeating Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand respectively. Meanwhile, Australia have played just one match in the tournament so far with their other two games being washed out due to rain.
Varun Chakravarthy’s selection gives team management headache:
While India had opted for a combination of two frontline pacers, with Hardik Pandya providing a third option, and three spinners in the first two matches of the Champions Trophy, they changed their combination slightly for the final league match.
In the last match in Dubai, India brought in another spinner in Varun Chakravarthy by dropping pacer Harshit Rana from the attack. The selection worked wonders for India as Chakravarthy delivered the results with a 5-wicket haul that ultimately led to a 44-run victory over New Zealand in a closely-fought contest.
Now the team management has a tough decision to make, whether to stick with the same XI or make some changes by bringing in pacer Harshit Rana.
What did Rohit say on selection headache?
Speaking about Varun Chakravarthy’s performance in the match against New Zealand, Rohit had said, “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,”
India’s predicted XI vs Australia:
India are unlikely to make changes to the winning combination given that the four spinners bowling in tandum already gave a lot of options to skipper Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya seems to have come off age as an ODI bowler and is fully capable of completeling his quota of 10 overs if need be.
India’s predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mohammed Shami
Australia’s predicted XI: Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Steve Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Cooper Connolly, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Spencer Johnson, Adam Zampa
