IND vs AUS, Champions Trophy semi-final playing XIs: Australia make two changes, India remain unchanged
Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bat in the Champions Trophy semi-final against India in Dubai. It was the 11th consecutive toss lost for Rohit Sharma and the 14th straight for India in ODIs but the Men in Blue will hope for the results to stay the same as last three games.
Australian skipper Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat first straight off the bat in the Champions Trophy semi-final, probably looking at what India did to New Zealand in the final Group A game. Smith admitted that it was a dry surface and having runs on the board in a knockout game could be huge if the ball takes turn and the pitch starts to get slow as the match progresses.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who lost his 11th consecutive toss in ODIs the second-most in history, was prepared to do both as he admitted that he wasn't really sure of what to do.
"Looks a pretty dry surface, pretty dry square, we'll like to get some runs on the board," Smith said. Australia made a couple of changes to their line-up with Cooper Connolly coming into the playing XI, replacing Matt Short who was ruled out of the tournament due to a quad injury. With the surface expected to take turn, Australia added another leg-spinner to their XI in Tanveer Sangha while leaving out Spencer Johnson.
Ben Dwarshuis and Nathan Ellis were the only two pace-bowling options for Australia in the XI while having as many as six spin-bowling options. On the other hand, India went unchanged with Varun Chakravarthy retaining his spot from the New Zealand game.
"I was prepared to do both. When you're in two minds, it's better to lose the toss. We've played three games here and each time it had something different in it. You can't really say this is how the pitch is going to play," Rohit had said even though the wicket might slow down as the game progresses.
Playing XIs
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
Australia: Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha