The 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy has reached its sharp end with four out of the original eight remaining in the competition. India will be up against familiar foes in Australia in the first semi-final while South Africa, the inaugural champions, will take on New Zealand in the second.
The Champions Trophy has reached its business end. Even though the lead-up has been a bit weird with the conversations around logistics and the Indian captain’s fitness being given more air time than cricket itself, the latter will take back its due place when the clock rings 1 PM local time on Tuesday, March 4. India take on Australia in the first of the two semi-finals after topping Group A while South Africa just proved to be too good for Afghanistan and England to be the trendsetters in Group B.
With a couple of washouts in Rawalpindi and a few one-sided games, the brief tournament hasn’t really been a great advert for ODI cricket but the two England matches against Australia and Afghanistan and India vs New Zealand match just reiterated why ODI cricket is important and needs to be saved – the ability to be able to make a comeback, fight through tough periods, the ebbs and flows through 100 overs.
The last four teams have played some good cricket but some might argue even they haven’t been at their 100 per cent, for e.g., South Africa because if the Proteas with the potential in their squad, flex their muscle they could do a lot more damage than anyone expects. Four great teams, potentially two cracking games and hopefully a terrific end to the tournament await the stakeholders, including the fans.
Fixtures
Semi-final 1: India (A1) vs Australia (B2) – March 4, Dubai
Semi-final 2: South Africa (B1) vs New Zealand (A2) – March 5, Lahore
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy
Australia: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa, Cooper Connolly
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Corbin Bosch. Travelling reserve: Kwena Maphaka
Match details and live streaming
The Champions Trophy semi-finals will have a 2:30 IST start, the same as all the group-stage matches but the timings differ locally. The first semi-final in Dubai will have a 1 PM local time start while the second in Lahore, Pakistan will have a 2 PM local time start. The India vs Australia match will be streamed 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 while the second semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand will be live broadcast on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Sports18 1, Sports 18 1 HD, Sports18 2 channels in India on TV.
The live streaming of both the games will be available on the JioHotstar app and website.
