Team India has been off to a brilliant start in the ongoing semifinal of the 2025 Champions Trophy between them and Australia. The Aussies won the toss and opted to bat first. Team India were quick to pick up the big wicket of Connor Conolly and they did so in dominating fashion.
Mohammed Shami, who has not been in great form in the tournament, did the job of giving India their first wicket of the day. In fact, team India did not let the youngster hit a single (he played 9 balls) and he departed for a duck. He gave away a massive edge behind and was caught efficiently by KL Rahul without any struggle.
However, after that, the partnership of Travis Head and Steve Smith have been playing responsibly while also maintaining the run rate. In fact, this will be the main struggle for Team India tonight. Even in the 2023 ODI World Cup, it was Travis Head who made the difference and led to Team India losing the final on their home turf. If India are to win this match against Australia, they need to take the wicket of Travis Head and break the partnership of him and Steve Smith.
India have replaced Harshit Rana with Varun Chakravarthy for today’s match. The mystery spinner picked up 5 wickets in the last match against New Zealand which was a big breakthrough that led to their victory. Thus, he can be a differentiating factor between the two teams and win the match for India.
