On Tuesday, March 4, India defeated Australia in a fierce match in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium by four wickets with eleven deliveries remaining. On Sunday, March 9, the Men in Blue will play either South Africa or New Zealand in the championship match of the ninth installment of the prestigious ODI event.
Travis Head and Cooper Connolly left during the powerplay. During the middle phase, Skipper, Steven Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne kept the ship steady until the latter left by becoming stranded in front of a Ravindra Jadeja delivery. The second victim of Jadeja was Josh Inglis. Australia scored 264 thanks to a sane 61-run knock by Alex Carey. With a record of 2/49, Varun Chakravarthy came back as the most economical bowler.
India’s answer got off to a good start. But Rohit Sharma’s wickets of Shubman Gill leveled the playing field. Virat Kohli scored his 74th ODI half-century during the run-chase, once again coming through for the team. India benefited from the important contributions made by Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer. Despite Hardik Pandya’s inability to finish, he and KL Rahul’s combination was sufficient to lead India to their first win over Australia in an ICC elimination match after 5,094 days.
Talking Points
1. Four-pronged spin attack works wonders for India
Ahead of the high-stakes clash, there were speculations on whether India would stick to their four-spinner approach after Chakravarthy’s heroic five-wicket haul against New Zealand. However, they stuck to their guns and fired all cylinders. All the spinners were quite economical, sharing five wickets between them.
2. Virat Kohli’s clutch gene kicks in against Australia, yet again!
On a tough Dubai deck that remained double-paced throughout the game, the manner in which Kohli paced his knock was just the need of the hour for the Indian unit. A lot of running was involved in Kohli’s 84-run knock which comprised a total of five boundaries. This knock further cemented the ace batter’s stronghold against familiar foes.
3. Rohit Sharma registers unique first as Indian captain
With India attaining their third Champions Trophy knockout win against Australia in the history of the tournament, Rohit became the first Indian skipper to reach the final of every ICC tournament – World Test Championship (2023), Cricket World Cup (2023), T20 World Cup (2024), and Champions Trophy (2025).
Who Said What?
Player of the Match, Virat Kohli, said
It was pretty similar to the other day against Pakistan as well. For me it is about understanding the basics and preparing my game accordingly.. just rotating strike because on this pitch partnerships are the most important thing. My only effort that day and today was to string in enough partnerships. The time that I got out the plan was to get 20 more and try and finish it off in a couple of overs. Usually that’s the template I follow but sometimes you can’t execute what you want to.
(Aspects that pleased him the most about his innings) My timing. The composure at the crease.. I wasn’t feeling desperate and feeling happy knocking ones around and when as a batsman you start taking pride in taking singles into the gaps, that is when you know you are playing good cricket and you know you are in for a big partnership. In the game against Pakistan and todaythat was the most pleasing factor for me.
Winning captain, Rohit Sharma, said
Till the last ball is bowled, nothing is certain. At the halfway stage, we felt like it’s a reasonable score. The nature of the pitch doesn’t allow you play your shots. We were clinical with the bat. We were calm and composed in our chase. Looked better (pitch). Slightly played better than the one against NZ. It’s about playing good cricket. There are a lot of experienced guys. That’s something I wanted to have – six bowling options and at the same get that batting depth as well. Credit goes to everyone who were involved in making the team. He’s done it for so many years.
When we wee batting, we were calm. Those shots in the end by Hardik were crucial. When you are in the final, you want all the guys in form. All these guys have made an impact and that gives us a lot of confidence. We’ll not think too much about it. Both are good teams, that’s why they are in the semis. It’s a very high pressure tournament, it’s always nice to have some time off and relax and then think about the final.
Losing captain, Steve Smith, said
I thought the bowlers did a really good job, they worked hard throughout, the spinners squeezed and took the game deep. It was a tricky wicket to start on batting, tough to rotate the strike, everyone did a really good job tonight. It played pretty similar throughout. Little bit of hold for the spinners, little bit of spin and a bit of skid. For the pacers, it was two-paced.
We probably could have got a few more on. We lost a couple of wickets at crucial times. If we got 280+, things would have been different. Felt like we were one wicket too many down at each stage of the game. The way we’ve come together. The bowling unit did a wonderful job, some of the batters stood up. We played exceptionally well against England. Some really good cricketers, they are going to get bigger and better.
India
