Champions Trophy 2025: India vs Australia, 1st semifinal – Match Preview

India will square off against Australia in the first semifinal of the ongoing Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Tuesday. It is expected to be a cracker of a game as Australia is known to bring their A-game in the knockout matches.

However, Australia has played only one complete match in the ongoing tournament and they might lack game time. We look at the current form, head-to-head, players to look out for, and squads of both teams in our match preview.

Current form of India: W W W W W

India has ticked the right boxes in the recent past and they would need to bring their absolute best against Australia. The Men in Blue would want runs from their top order as they could not deliver against New Zealand. Varun Chakravarthy bagged a five-wicket haul and he could retain his place in the final XI.

Current form of Australia: NR Abandoned W L L

Australia got off to a flying start against Afghanistan in the last game with Travis Head scoring a blistering fifty. Head has been a headache for the Indian team and he is going to hold the key. But Matthew Short has been ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury.

Head to Head: Matches: 151, Won by Australia: 84, Won by India: 57, No result: 10.

Players to watch out for: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya will be the crucial players for India.

Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, and Adam Zampa will hold the key for Australia.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Australia: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa.