India faces Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal in Dubai on Tuesday, their first ICC ODI clash since the 2023 World Cup final.
While Australia boasts a strong batting unit, India’s spin-heavy attack could challenge its middle order, despite missing pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
Here are three key match-ups to look out for:
Travis Head vs Indian bowlers
Since January 1, 2022, no batter has scored as many runs against India (across all formats) as Head (1,260). The Australian batter has been India’s nemesis in recent times, scoring match-winning hundreds against the Indians in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, ODI World Cup final and Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
In the current Indian bowling line-up, only Hardik Pandya has dismissed Head multiple times in ODIs. The left-handed batter though has found Mohammed Shami a tricky customer, scoring at a lowly strike rate of 73.33 against the Indian pacer.
Virat Kohli vs Adam Zampa
Leg-spinners have emerged as Virat Kohli’s kryptonite in ODIs in recent times. Five out of the last seven of Kohli’s ODI dismissals were at the hand of leggies.
Till 2020, Kohli averaged a more-than-healthy 72.60 against leg-spinners. But since 2020, his average against the bowling type has dipped to 41.00.
In Adam Zampa, Australia has the right weapon to target Kohli’s weakness. The Australian leggie has dismissed the Indian batter five times in ODIs, albeit while allowing Kohli to score at solid strike rate of 107.66.
Varun Chakaravarthy vs Australia’s batters
With his fifer against New Zealand, Varun Chakaravarthy has nearly guaranteed himself a spot in the Indian playing XI for the semifinal.
Varun will be an unfamiliar customer to a large chunk of the Australian batting order. In the current Australian setup, only Glenn Maxwell and skipper Smith have faced Varun before.
Maxwell batted against the Indian spinner in six Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, scoring 46 runs off 30 balls, while being dismissed thrice. Smith encountered Varun just once, scoring 14 from 10, without being dismissed.
India will likely bank on this element of mystery to gain a foothold in the game.
