India continued their winning streak in the Champions Trophy 2025 by defeating Australia in the tournament’s first semifinal. India has advanced to the tournament’s final, where they will face the winner of the second semifinal, which will take place between South Africa and New Zealand.
India lost the toss for the fifteenth time in a row, and the Kangaroos opted to bat first. The innings began cautiously, with Cooper Connolly recording a 9-ball duck, but Travis Head was quickly back to his aggressive ways on the powerplay. Varun Chakravarthy eventually ended Head’s belligerent behaviour, paving the way for India.
Steven Smith (73 off 96) attempted to steady the innings, but lost partners soon. Alex Carey (61 off 57) kept the pace up despite losing partners quickly, and his dismissal via a rocket throw from Shreyas Iyer crushed any Australian aspirations. Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, and Chakravarthy led India’s bowling effort, ensuring Australia did not get away with anything.
India’s pursuit began quickly, but it was not without challenges. Shubman Gill left early, and Rohit Sharma was dropped twice in 15 balls, but he couldn’t capitalise on the reprieves that fell during the powerplay. Virat Kohli (84 off 98) and Shreyas Iyer once again combined to seize the lead in the chase, scoring 91. Axar Patel and KL Rahul also contributed significantly with 44 and 47, but at a slower pace.
India and Kohli maintained the chase calm and deliberate at all times, ensuring that India had wickets available if and when they needed to quicken the tempo. Despite the rising asking rate, the Men in Blue maintained control of the chase, and Hardik Pandya’s timely sixes ensured India’s place in the final.
Here are some most important stats from India vs Australia, Semi-final 1
14 – India extended their streak of consecutive toss losses in ODIs to 14 – the most by any team ever. Rohit Sharma was in charge of 11 of these matches. Only Brian Lara has lost more consecutive tosses as a captain.
9 – This was the ninth ICC knockout match between India and Australia, no other teams have come across each other more often in those stages. Australia vs England and New Zealand vs Pakistan have happened 6 times each.
1, 2 – Travis Head with 357 and Steve Smith with 337 against India are now on the top two spots on the list of players with the most runs against a single team in ICC knockout matches. The previous record was with Ricky Ponting who had 331 runs against India in this phase.
2 – Varun Chakaravarthy has now aggregated 8 wickets in hhis first 3 ODIs, the second most for India. Piyush Chawla took nine wickets across his first three ODIs.
2 – Steven Smith now has the joint second most fifty-plus scores in the knockouts phase of ICC tournaments. His 6 are level with Sachin Tendulkar, while Virat Kohli leads the pack with 10.
3 – With 21, Mohammed Shami is now the third-highest wicket taker in ICC knockout matches. Glenn McGrath (22) and Muttiah Muralitharan (23) are ahaead of him.
2 – Virat Kohli has the second most catches as a fielder ever in ODIs with 161 going ahead of Ricky Ponting with 160 in the list headed by Mahela Jayawardene’s 218.
5 – Virat Kohli now has the fifth-most catches as a fielder in international cricket with 336 which is also the most by an Indian. Kohli went past Rahul Dravid’s 334. Mahela Jayawardene heads this list as well with 440.
1 – Virat Kohli also the joint-most catches as a fielder in ICC limited-over tournaments (ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy) level with Mahela Jayawardene’s 44.
1 – Rohit Sharma now has the most sixes by a batter in ICC ODI (World Cups and Champions Trophies) events. Rohit has hit 65 sixes in the marquee events going past Chris Gayle’s 64.
2 – Virat Kohli became the second player to aggregate 8,000 runs while chasing in ODIs. The first was Sachin Tendulkar.
1 – Virat Kohli became the first player to make 10 fifty-plus scores in ICC knockout matches. Steve Smith and Sachin Tendulkar share the second spot with 6.
1 – Virat Kohli now has the most fifty-plus scores in ICC ODI events with 24, going past Sachin Tendulkar’s 23.
1 – Virat Kohli is now the first player to make 1,000 runs in ICC knockouts. Rohit Sharma with 808 runs is a distant second.
2 – Virat Kohli has the second most runs in Champions Trophy history and the most for India with 746. Only Chris Gayle with 791 has more runs in the tournament. Kohli went past Sourav Ganguly’s 665, Kumar Sangakkara’s 683, Shikhar Dhawan’s 701 and Mahela Jayawardene’s 742 runs in the tournament during the course of his 84.
1 – Virat Kohli with 7 now has the most fifty-plus scores in Champions Trophy history. Shikhar Dhawan, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid share the second spot with 6.
3 – KL Rahul became the third fastest Indian player to reach 3,000 ODI runs getting there in 78 innings. Among Indians, Shikhar Dhawan (72) and Virat Kohli (75) are the only ones to have gotten there faster.
1 – Virat Kohli’s third Player of the Match Award in ICC knockouts puts him on level with six other players at joint first position on the list of most POTM Awards in ICC knockouts. The other players are Travis Head, Shane Warne, Aravainda de Silva, Jacques Kallis, Shane Watson and Yuvraj Singh.
2 – Virat Kohli’s three Player of the Match Awards in the Champions are the joint second most by any player. Chris Gayle has the most with five, while Stephen Fleming, Jacques Kallis and Shane Watson share the second spot with Kohli.
1 – This match was the first time that Travis Head played an ICC knockout match but did not recieve the Player of the Match award. Head had received the award in the WTC Final against India in 2023, the ODI World Cup semfinal against South Africa that year and the ODI World Cup Final against India that year as well.
5094 – The number of days after which India beat Australia in an ICC knockout match. The last such win for India was in the quarterfinal of the 2011 ODI World Cup. Since then, India lost the 2015 ODI World Cup semifinal, 2023 World Test Championship Final and the 2023 ODI World Cup Final to the Kangaroos.
5 – The number of matches won by India against Australia in ICC knockouts – the joint most by any team against another. Australia also has 5 knockout wins over both New Zealand and Pakistan but those wins have come from 5 matches, while India’s 5 wins have come from 9 matches.
5 – India entered their fifth final of the Champions Trophy, the most by any team. West Indies’ three final appearances are the second best.
1 – Rohit Sharma is now the first captain to lead his team into the finals of the four major ICC tournaments (ODI World Cup 2023, WTC 2023, T20 World Cup 2024, Champions Trophy 2025).
2 – India are the second team to play 10 or more ODIs at a single stadium and remain unbeaten. India have won 9 and tied 1 of their 10 ODIs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium while New Zealand have won all 10 of their ODIs at the University Oval in Dunedin.
India
