The first semi-final match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be played between India and Australia. This match to be played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium is going to be very exciting. It will not be easy for India to defeat a dangerous team like Australia in the semi-finals. In such a situation, let us know the condition of Dubai pitch before this match. In this article, we will see which team has the upper hand? What are the strengths and weaknesses of both team?
The Indian is captained by Rohit Sharma, while the Australian team is captained by Steve Smith. Team India has won 3 consecutive matches on the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and has managed to defeat Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand so far. In the upcoming match on Tuesday, Rohit’s army would like to win another crucial match to book their place for the finals of Champions Trophy 2025 and bring another ICC trophy to India for the second consecutive year.
Table of Contents
Dubai International Cricket Stadium Pitch Report
The leg side boundary pitch of Dubai International Stadium is short for right-handed batter. The pitch is made from black soil of Pakistan, which is quite dry and will be helpful for spinners in the beginning. However, later it becomes a little favorable for batting. The economy rate of spinners is better. Currently, spinners have dominated in the last 3 matches played. But in the beginning, fast bowlers can also get help. But as the game progresses, the Dubai pitch starts to slow down.
The Indian team has played all the matches in Dubai. The pitch was slow in all three matches and the score could not exceed 250. The semi-final of India vs Australia will also be played on the same ground. It is expected that similar mood of the pitch will be seen in the semi-finals as well. The Dubai pitch will be helpful for spinners and pacers, which creates problems for the batters. In the India-New Zealand match, spinners took a total of 11 wickets.
Dubai International Cricket Stadium has hosted 61 matches, including 3 matches of ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The stadium generally benefits teams batting later, with 36 wins recorded by teams chasing targets, while teams setting targets have won on 23 occasions. The average first innings score at this venue is around 230. India, however, won the last match while defending the target. The ball is coming to a stop and the batsmen are facing difficulty in hitting long shots.
India vs Australia – Head to Head in Champions Trophy
Australia and India have faced each other four times in the Champions Trophy so far. India has won two of these matches while Australia has won one. One match was inconclusive. In the history of ODI cricket, both the countries have played 151 matches so far. Australia has won 84 of these matches. India has won 57 matches. 10 matches have been cancelled.
Also Read: Dubai to Host a Magical Harry Potter Orchestra Night This March
Strength and Weakness of Indian and Australian Team
India
India has won all its three group stage matches. India has the strongest batting lineup in the world. The Indian batters are performing brilliantly. Shubman Gill scored a century against Bangladesh and Virat Kohli against Pakistan. Rohit Sharma is also giving the team a fast start. Shreyas Iyer is scoring consistently in the middle order. But Mohammed Shami is not proving to be effective for India. He took five wickets against Bangladesh. But after that he was ineffective against both Pakistan and New Zealand. He did not get any wicket in both these matches. Mohammed Shami not being in form can create problems for India in the semi-finals.
Australia
The Australian team was already very weak. Because players like Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins were out of the tournament due to injury after joining the squad. The bowling of the Kangaroo team is not showing any edge. In the first match against England, the Australian bowlers gave away 351 runs. Whereas even against a weak team like Afghanistan, its bowlers did not look in rhythm and the Afghan team scored 273 runs. Australia’s biggest weakness is its bowling. On the other hand, if we look at their strength, they have batters like Smith, Head, Labuschagne and Maxwell who can change the course of the game at any time.
Indian team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana
Australia team: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Travis Head, Steven Smith (captain), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wicketkeeper), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson, Sean Abbott, Aaron Hardy, Tanveer Sangha, Cooper Connolly
Special Stats about Dubai International Cricket Stadium
- The highest ODI score by England at Dubai International Stadium was an impressive 355 for 5 against Pakistan in 2015.
- Namibia registered the lowest score at this ground, getting bowled out for just 91 against UAE in 2023.
- Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi achieved the best bowling figures of 6/38 against Australia in 2009.
- Talking about individual scores, Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim scored 144 runs against Sri Lanka in 2018.
- Pakistan all-rounder Afridi also leads the wicket-taking charts on the field with 25 wickets in 14 matches