Dubai: The first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy is being played between Australia and India in Dubai on Tuesday, today.
The match will start at two in the afternoon.
Indian team have remained undefeated in the CT so far.
Australia and India have played 151 ODIs while Kangroos won 84 matches and India got victories in 57 matches.
Both the teams faced each other four times in the history of Champions Trophy.
India won two matches on the other hand Australia could one match and one match remained undecided.
Kangaroos and India have come face to face eight times in the ICC events knock out matches while duo secured victory in four matches each.
Australia’s top-order batter Matthew Short has been ruled out of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 due to a quad injury, Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed.
The 29-year-old has been replaced by spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly, who was initially named among Australia’s travelling reserves for the eight-team tournament.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) Event Technical Committee has approved Connolly’s inclusion in Australia’s squad.
Short suffered the injury late in Afghanistan’s innings. Although he opened the batting alongside Travis Head, he struggled between the wickets and was largely limited to boundary-hitting.
He managed to score 20 off 15 balls, contributing to a useful opening stand of 44 in 4.3 overs, before being caught at mid-on.
Australia captain Steve Smith was all but confirmed that Short may run out of time to recover.
“I think he’ll be struggling,” Smith said at the post-match presentation. “I think we saw tonight he wasn’t moving very well. I think it’s probably going to be too quick between games for him to recover.”
Notably, Australia have another opener Jake Fraser-McGurk in their squad but the 22-year-old would not give them a bowling option.
As a result, the two-time champions are most likely to include Connolly in the playing XI for the semi-final against India in Dubai, a venue which typically favours spinners.
Australia squad for Champions Trophy 2025:
Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa.
Meanwhile, the second semi-final will be played between New Zealand and South Africa in Lahore on Wednesday.
