Australia to Bat First Against India in the First Semifinal of ICC Champions Trophy

Australia to Bat First Against India in the First Semifinal of ICC Champions Trophy

Dubai, March 4: On Tuesday, Australia’s captain Steve Smith won the toss and decided to bat first against India in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy's first semifinal.

India finished at the top of Group A, having won all three of their matches against Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand. On the other hand, Australia finished second in Group B, just behind South Africa.

These two teams last faced each other in a 50-over match during the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Final.

Though Rohit Sharma and his team were defeated by Australia in the previous match in Ahmedabad, India triumphed over Australia in their last ICC tournament encounter to claim the Men's T20 World Cup title.

After winning the toss, Steve Smith said, "We’ll be batting first. The pitch looks quite dry. We've had a couple of sessions, and the team is ready. The pitch might turn. India is a very good team. Two changes have been made. Cooper Connolly comes in for Short, and Sangha replaces Johnson."

India's captain Rohit Sharma mentioned, "The nature of Dubai’s pitch keeps changing. I was prepared for both options. When you're confused, it's better to lose the toss. The pitch changes. We need to play good cricket. We have played well in all three games, and we aim to continue that. Now that we’re bowling first, we need to bowl well and restrict them to a low total."

Teams:

Australia (Playing XI): Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha.

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.