Australia are hamstrung with a number of injuries in their squad but their batting still has depth and quality with several spin options. The knockouts just get the best out of them and India will have to be wary of the familiar foes, who have the ability to win games out of nowhere.
It’s bizarre when the lead-up to an ICC ODI knockout oscillates between a logistical advantage to one team and just one player from the other side because of what he did to the same opposition not too long ago at a world stage. The opponents are familiar, India and Australia and have locked horns far too often in knockouts recently but the Men in Blue will hope that the results are different this time around.
India have had a good thing going even though they are playing all of their matches at just one venue. Slow tracks and playing spin aren’t really strengths of this Indian team but Rohit Sharma and Co know how to do ODIs well. But the challenge for them will now be coming up clutch in a now-or-never game.
India will evidently start as favourites given how the Men in Blue have played so far while the Australian team has obvious absentees in the bowling department. The injury to Matt Short further depleted their stocks but given how sluggish Dubai has been, it may not be a bad thing as Australia now have an opportunity to bring in Cooper Connolly straight away into the mix while adding a left-arm spin option. But who does open the innings then? There are questions over Australia’s line-up but India are highly likely to go in with the same team that played against New Zealand.
When and where to watch IND vs AUS, Champions Trophy semi-final live on TV and OTT in India?
The India vs Australia, first semi-final will begin at 2:30 PM IST on Tuesday, March 4. The Champions Trophy semi-final will be live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Sports18 1 and Sports 18 1 HD channels on TV in India while the live streaming of the match will be available on the JioHotstar app and website.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana
Australia: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson, Sean Abbott, Aaron Hardie, Tanveer Sangha, Cooper Connolly
