The chief protagonist of India’s semi-final win was Virat Kohli, who composed a familiarly scientific 84 in chase, and en route completed 8,000 runs when hunting down targets alone. But it was also a triumph of collectivism, with a resourceful ensemble cast performing their roles to perfection, so much so that their contributions were as significant as Virat Kohli’s in the larger context of the game.
Virat Kohli’s mastery of the ODI format has reached a stage where he now virtually bats on autopilot mode, without any undue stress. He detailed the essence of his knock that consumed 98 balls and was studded with five fours: “My timing, my composure at the crease, I wasn’t rushed. The singles that I took were the most pleasing part for me.”
With a thumping K L Rahul six over long-on, India leapt over their biggest hurdle in the 50-over ICC tournaments — Australia. The margin of victory — by four wickets and 11 balls to spare to fix the summit clash on Sunday — doesn’t capture the clinical outmuscling and outwitting of the World Champions. The victory was also the last stroke of embarrassment for Pakistan. First the host nation crashed out in humiliating fashion, and now, with India in the final, Dubai gets to host the title contest.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : “It’s not too hot for the region, a gentle breeze blowing across the ground. Absolutely no chance of rain. 77m down the ground, square boundaries – 69m and 62m. This (pitch) hasn’t been used in the Champions Trophy yet but it does look very bare, very dry and very cracked.
Still battable, if you win the toss, bat first. The real challenge for the Australians will be how they play the Indian spinners. The ball will grip second time around more than it may in the first. Looks good for the spinners today.” reckons Ramiz Raja and Michael Atherton.
Toss : Australia skipper Steve Smith won the toss and chose to bat with two changes in the playing XI bringing in Cooper Connelly and Tanveer Sangha in place of Matthew Short and Spencer Johnson. Team India skipper Rohit Sharma who now has lost 11 tosses on the trot made no changes in the playing XI going ahead again with four spinners on Dubai track.
Steven Smith’s 73 runs and Alex Carey’s 61 runs carries Australia to 264 all out in 50 overs
It capped off a similarly clinical performance with the ball that had seen them restrict Australia to a par-score of 264 after they were asked to bowl. India went in with an unchanged team, meaning they had four frontline spinners in the attack. On a fresh surface, and against an Australian batting line-up that was keen on reversing the pressure, they were not able to exert the same amount of dominance as in the previous game. But they still managed to create an impact right through.
For all that, Australia threatened at various points to run away to a 300-ish total after choosing to bat, and three of their batters played innings that could have been match-winning on another day. All three, however, fell just when they seemed at their most dangerous, and all three had a hand in their own dismissals.
Travis Head, put down by Mohammed Shami off his own bowling in the first over of the match, took a while getting to grips with the slowness of the surface, but peppered the boundary once he did, rushing from 1 off 11 balls to 39 off 32 to give India flashbacks of Ahmedabad 2023. Then, facing his first ball from Varun Chakravarthy in any format, including the IPL, he aimed big down the ground and miscued a wrong’un to long-off.
It started with Varun Chakravarthy, who struck with his first ball to Travis Head, having India’s nemesis miscuing a loft to long off. Head had mixed success in his 33-ball 39. The first 11 balls he had faced yielded only one run before he managed to accelerate.
Mohammed Shami’s round-the-wicket line to both of Australian openers – Cooper Connolly being the other – had posed a few problems straight-up. Head was even dropped first ball when a leading edge was not held by Shami on his follow-through. But the pacer had the better of Connolly, beating his outside edge repeatedly, before inducing an edge that ended a scratchy 9-ball duck.
With Head’s acceleration too being nipped in the bud, India were on the ascendancy before they ran into Steven Smith. The Australian captain looked the most assured of all the batters, and rode on the confidence marking his intentions with a lofted boundary off Axar Patel in his first over. He had the rub of the green a couple of times when the bail wasn’t dislodged after an inside edge off Patel hit the stumps and later Shami dropped a tougher return catch.
India managed to keep the innings boundary-free for 50 balls with the Smith-Labuschagne pair in the middle before the latter brought one up with a fine late cut. Labuschagne brought out the slog sweep as well to try and put the left-arm finger spinners off but his knock too was cut short when Jadeja trapped him plumb in front ending a 56-run partnership.
Meanwhile, Smith brought up his fifty off 66 balls – the fifth time he’d gone past that mark in 7 ICC ODI knockout games – and anchored the innings well. The support at the other end though was dwindling with Josh Inglis chipping a simple catch to cover on 11.
However, the arrival of Alex Carey injected more momentum to the innings. His 54-run partnership with Smith came close to a run-a-ball through the middle overs with the spinners bearing the brunt of the assault. Carey was the aggressor in the partnership and continued to drive Australia through the rest of the innings almost single-handedly.
Then Steven Smith, manipulating his bat face brilliantly to whisk the spinners over midwicket, drive them through the covers or launch them straight, made a smart, proactive 73, putting on half-century stands with Head, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey. He too enjoyed slices of luck; Shami put down a return catch off him as well, though with his left rather than right hand, and Axar Patel made him inside-edge a drive on to his stumps only for the bails to stay put.
But with Australia 198 for 4 in the 37th over, Smith stepped out to try and drill Shami between cover and mid-off, only to lose his shape and miss a full-toss that crashed into the base of off stump.
Smith’s vigil came to an end when he jumped out against Shami and missed a full toss on 73. Australia were impeded further when Axar bowled Glenn Maxwell immediately after being hit for a boundary. But Carey took on the mantle thereafter bringing up a fifty off just 48 balls and played a key part in rendering Kuldeep Yadav ineffective.
Five balls later, Australia had lost another key wicket, with Glenn Maxwell following up a slog-swept six off Axar with a missed pull off a stump-bound skidder. The game had swung India’s way in the matter of minutes.
Carey was still there, though, and he was, perhaps, playing the innings of the match to that point. Coming in at a tricky juncture – Australia were 144 for 4, and Ravindra Jadeja had just sent back Labuschagne and Josh Inglis in quick succession – he counter-attacked, picking vacant spots in the outfield and attacking them with no half-measures.
His first boundary, off the sixth ball he faced, set the tone, as he backed away to expose all three stumps and create room to loft Jadeja over mid-off – the length didn’t quite allow him to middle the shot, but he went through with it in the knowledge that there was no fielder patrolling that boundary.
In that vein, through sweeps, lofts over the covers and reverse-sweeps, Carey had motored to 60 off 56, but just when it seemed imperative for him to bat through the innings, with Australia seven down in the 47th over, he turned around for a risky second run and was caught well short by a brilliant direct hit from Shreyas Iyer two-thirds of the way back at backward square-leg. All these moments added up to Australia being bowled out for 264, with three balls remaining.
But just as he was gearing up for a big finish, he was run out by a sharp direct hit by Shreyas Iyer while attempting a second run. Carey became Australia’s eighth wicket with just under three overs remaining which robbed them of a late surge and were bowled out for 264 in the final over. It was the kind of total that allowed India to pace their pursuit and not go searching for boundaries, though the early exchanges suggested otherwise.
Chase General Virat Kohli conquers Australia, leads India’s march to 3rd consecutive final of Champions Trophy 2025
Virat Kohli anchored the chase through some muddled waters to keep India on track. His entry to the chase was early with Shubman Gill chopping on in the fifth over. But Rohit Sharma, who was dropped twice, was playing the characteristic aggressor early on unafraid to exploit the powerplay. He hit 28 off 29 before missing a sweep against left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly to be trapped LBW. At 43/2 inside eight overs, the chase was in the balance with Australia eyeing to make more inroads.
Shubman Gill danced down the track to put Ben Dwarshuis away with an eye-catching short-arm jab, before inside-edging on to his stumps later in the over while trying to steer him fine, perhaps an injudicious shot in these conditions.
Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, went after the bowling as he usually does in the first powerplay, and played an innings that somewhat echoed Head’s: there were a couple of breath-taking hits, including a pulled six off Nathan Ellis; there were two dropped chances, neither entirely straightforward, but both catchable, by Cooper Connolly and Labuschagne; and then a dismissal off a risky shot, a sweep off a too-straight, too-full ball from Connolly.
That left India 43 for 2 in the eighth over, and Connolly was finally able to breathe after a torrid match to that point. Earlier in the day, opening in place of the injured Matthew Short, whom he had replaced in Australia’s squad, he had fallen for a nine-ball duck that also included six successive plays-and-misses off Shami.
But Virat Kohli, along with a resolute Shreyas Iyer, saw them through a worrisome period without many hiccups. The duo were adept at milking Australia’s spinners cutting off much risk-taking. Their 91-run stand got the chase back on track while also laying a solid foundation to build from.
Virat Kohli got to his 74th ODI fifty but was put down soon after. Connolly induced a leading edge only for a diving Glenn Maxwell to spill it at short-extra cover. Iyer, who had been compact until then, was done in by a slider from Zampa to be bowled for 45. But Virat Kohli found another able partner in Axar Patel, who got going with a slog-swept six off Tanveer Sangha. Their 44-run association off 50 balls pushed India closer towards the target while also ensuring that the required run-rate never got out-of-hand.
Connolly could have had even more joy in his sixth over, when This was partly down to Australia being forced to concede singles to deep fielders thanks to the limitations of their spin attack, which included one proven frontliner in Adam Zampa, a leg spinner playing just his fourth ODI in Tanveer Sangha, and three batting allrounders or part-timers in Connolly, Maxwell and Head. Given the total he was defending, too, Smith had to protect the boundaries, and allow the singles to drip away while waiting for an opening.
Virat Kohli, looking to work his left-arm spin into the on side, sent a leading edge looping towards Maxwell at a catching short cover. Maxwell dived right, but couldn’t hold on to the one-hander. With Kohli on 51 and India 134 for 2, Australia could have had a foot in the door had this moment gone their way.
That apart, though, Virat Kohli was making things look deceptively easy, playing nothing but old-fashioned percentage shots but somehow scoring quicker than Iyer – who was moving around his crease constantly, often to scoop the ball over his shoulder – in a third-wicket stand of 91. Virat Kohli only hit five fours in all – two pulls off the spinners and one off Ellis were particularly eye-catching for the speed of his footwork – but had no trouble in keeping the scorecard moving.
On a slow surface, Australia were still able to drag the game deep through regular strikes. Axar was then bowled by Nathan Ellis off a shortish delivery that skidded onto the offstump. KL Rahul, who followed, got into a similar template while Virat Kohli held one end up adeptly. Heading into the last ten overs,
This came when Iyer, making room to cut, was bowled by Zampa’s quicker ball, leaving India needing 131 from 142 balls. They were still heavy favourites, though, given their batting depth. They settled into the seeming pattern of Virat Kohli looking to bat through the chase with Axar – batting in his now-customary No. 5 slot – and then Rahul taking on the bowlers at the other end in partnerships of 44 and 47.
India needed 65 but with six wickets in hand. Rahul lofted a couple of boundaries in the following overs to keep reversing the pressure. He added another loft off Adam Zampa to tilt the equation further. But in the same over, Virat Kohli uncharacteristically, attempted a loft off Zampa only to hole out to long on. With the equation still being run-a-ball, Australia had a chance to get back into the game.
Just when things were going exactly to plan, and just when a century seemed to be Virat Kohli’s for the taking, he fell in the most un-Kohli-like manner. Rahul had hit Zampa for a straight six earlier in the over, and India were well in control of their required rate. It isn’t usually the kind of moment Virat Kohli picks to try and hit a six, but it was on this day.
He picked the wrong’un, but the ball likely turned less than he expected, and forced him to hit straighter than intended, straight to the fielder at long-on. Virat Kohli may be the world’s most exacting calibrator of chases, but even he’s given to the odd human impulse.
However, Hardik Pandya got his hitting right to pick up three sixes against the leg spinners as India raced ahead. Pandya’s 24-ball 28 tilted the game decisively in India’s favour as they finished the chase with 11 balls to spare.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Steve Smith the losing Australia captain said : I thought the bowlers did a really good job, they worked hard throughout, the spinners squeezed and enabled us take the game a bit deeper than potentially could have done. It was a tricky wicket to start on batting and tough to rotate the strike at times, everyone did a really good job tonight.
It played pretty similar throughout to be fair. Little bit of hold for the spinners, little bit of spin here and there and a bit of skid. And the pacers, it was just some two-paceness to the wicket, balls were holding a little bit. It wasn’t easiest batting conditions, probably why the scores were where they were. Having said that, we probably could have put a few more on. We lost a couple of wickets at crucial times.
If we got 280+, things could have been different. Always felt like we were one wicket too many down at each stage of the game. If we were able to drag one of those partnerships, that’s probably where we get to 280, then there’s a little bit more pressure on the game. (On this campaign) The way we’ve come together.
The bowling attack was quite inexperienced, they did a wonderful job throughout. Some of the batters really stood up and got some big totals. That game against England, we played exceptionally well. There were glimpses tonight of some really good stuff as well. Some really good cricketers in that change room and they are going to continue to get bigger and better.
Rohit Sharma the winning India captain said : Till the last ball is bowled, nothing is certain. That’s how this game is. Halfway through the game, we felt like it’s a reasonable score. We had to really bat well to get that score because the nature of the pitch doesn’t allow you to just come in and keep playing the way you want to play. We were very clinical with the bat. Yes, we got the runs in the 48th over, but I thought we were calm and composed in our chase.
Looked better (pitch). That’s been the nature of the surfaces here – it’s very uncertain. The one which we played today played slightly better than the one we played against New Zealand. The talks that we are having within our group is about playing good cricket, understanding the situation and then taking it from there, not to read too much into what the pitch is doing.
There are a lot of experienced guys within the group, we’ll leave it up to them to make those decisions when they’re out in the middle. That’s something that I really wanted to have – six bowling options and at the same time how I can get batting till No. 8 as well. It was a bit challenging as well.
When we were making up the squad, this is something that we discussed at length – how we can have six bowling options and at the same get that batting depth as well. The guys are there to know exactly what is required out of them.
He (Kohli) has done it for us for so many years. When we were batting, we were very calm. We wanted that big partnership which Shreyas and Virat had, which was really good. And then, the small partnerships between Axar and Virat and then KL and Virat and then that match-winning partnership. Towards the end, it may not look big runs, but those shots in the end by Hardik were very crucial. When you are in the final, you want all the guys to be in form.
All these guys have made an impact whenever they’ve got an opportunity and that gives us a lot of confidence. We’ll not think too much about it. Both are good teams (South Africa and New Zealand) which is why they are in the semis. We’ll keep an eye on it but I want the guys to have time off and relax.
It’s a very high pressure tournament, you go through so much emotions through the game, it’s always nice to have some time off and relax and then think about the final. We’ve got some time in between which is always nice. We’ll think about what we need to do then, but for tomorrow, just try to relax.
Virat Kohli Player of the Match for 84 runs said : It was pretty similar to the other day against Pakistan as well. For me it is about understanding the conditions and preparing my game accordingly.. just rotating strike because partnerships on this pitch are the most important thing. My only effort that day and today was to string in enough partnerships. The time that I got out, the plan was to get 20 more and try and finish it off in a couple of overs.
Usually that’s the template I follow but sometimes you can’t execute things how you want to. It’s all dependant on the conditions, the pitch tells me how the cricket needs to be played and then I just switch on and play accordingly. (Aspects that pleased him the most about his innings)
My timing. The composure at the crease.. I wasn’t feeling desperate, I was pretty happy knocking ones around and when as a batsman you start taking pride in taking singles into the gaps, that is when you know you are playing good cricket and you know you are in for a big partnership and settle the nerves down a little bit and head towards chasing the total down. In the game against Pakistan and today that was the most pleasing factor for me.
(Asked if he calculates overs ahead while batting) This game is all about pressure, especially in big games like semis and finals. If you go deep into the innings and have wickets in hand, the opposition usually gives in and the game becomes easier. It is very important to control your impulses while the game is going on.
For me it’s important to know the number of overs and runs left. Even if the gap is 25-30 and it comes to 6 an over I am not bothered if we have 6-7 wickets in hand. (Asked if he is now playing his best in ODIs) I don’t know that’s up to you guys to break down. I have never focused on those things.
When you don’t think of those milestones they happen along the way towards victory. For me, it’s all about taking pride and doing the job for the team. If I get to the three-digit mark, great. If not, nights like these, you win, it’s a happy dressing room.
You go back, you feel grateful for what happened out there and then you put your head down, work hard and go all over again. That’s what I have done all my career. For me, those things don’t matter anymore. For me, it’s just about stepping up and hopefully doing the job for the team.
The buildup to the semifinal between India and Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS) revolved around how much the pitch would turn and how low the total or target might be. Ramiz Raja, after doing the pitch report with Michael Atherton, told a couple of journalists in the media box that it was a 170-run pitch. India ended up conceding nearly 100 runs more on what appeared to be a difficult pitch. But then they had Virat Kohli, the chase master.
Australia felt they were 20 runs short, but with Virat Kohli at the crease, no target was ever beyond India’s reach. Virat Kohli anchored the chase so effortlessly that Australia had no answer to his brilliance. In his 98-ball 84, Virat Kohli struck only five boundaries. In his unbeaten 100 the other night against Pakistan, he managed just seven fours. There was no display of bravado or needless adventure. Virat Kohli’s innings was marked by control and, of course, class – qualities that ensured India’s entry into the Champions Trophy final.
India marched into the final of the ICC Champions Trophy for the third successive time by putting out a clinical performance with both bat and ball against Australia. The run-chase was guided largely by Virat Kohli, who went past 8000 runs while chasing in ODIs, in typical style with adequate support right through.
Dubai will host the final of the Champions Trophy, and India will be in it, after proving their edge over a weakened Australia side in an absorbing first semi-final. Their win wasn’t achieved without a fight, however, and Australia may yet look back on several moments that could have moved the contest in other, tantalising directions.
In the end, India’s quality and experience made the telling difference, and the member of their line-up who most embodies those words was a central figure. Virat Kohli had made one of his trademark chase-controlling hundreds earlier in the tournament, against Pakistan, and seemed set for another here, only for an uncharacteristic attempt at a big hit to cut his innings short at 84. By then, however, he had passed 8000 runs in ODI chases, and whittled this one down to a more-than-manageable 40 off 44 balls.
They only needed 33 of those balls, as KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya all but sealed the deal before the latter departed with India one hit away. And as in a similar chase during the Chennai World Cup game between these sides in 2023, it was Rahul who finished things off, this time with a six over long-on off Glenn Maxwell.
Rahul and Hardik hit five sixes and three fours between them, but even that late spurt didn’t take India’s boundary count (16 fours and seven sixes) past Australia’s (20 and eight). Their win, instead, was built on busy-ness: they only faced 124 dots to Australia’s 153, and ran 158 of their runs between the wickets to Australia’s 129.
As much as this was down to the way Virat Kohli and his colleagues – five other India batters got past 25 – moved the ball into gaps and ran, it was also down to the difference in quality between the two bowling attacks, particularly the spinners. India’s spinners ended the game with a collective dot-ball percentage of exactly 50, and Australia’s just over 39.
India stuck with their four-spinner strategy on a bone-dry pitch that promised plenty of turn, but as it happened, the surface was merely slow and low. India’s spinners didn’t necessarily have the means to run through the opposition, but they exerted far better control than their Australian counterparts, keeping the stumps in play and restricting the batters’ scoring areas.
Rahul let out a roar after hitting the winning runs. The Indians are cock-a-hoop. A cracking game of cricket. Both teams picked a lot of spinners as it was a dry pitch. But it played much better than the New Zealand game. There was something in it to keep everyone interested. And, there were a lot of similarities between the two innings. Connolly and Gill perished cheaply.
Head and Rohit got a couple of reprieves and went after the bowlers before falling to spin (Varun Chakravarthy and Connolly respectively). Smith-Labuschagne and Kohli-Shreyas batted sensibly against spin with plenty of singles and doubles. Carey took pressure off Smith while Axar did something similar for Kohli. The bowlers picked a wicket every time a partnership started to look threatening. Smith looked to play an expansive shot and fell for 73, while Kohli who looked set to ace another chase holed out in the deep on 84.
So what was the difference between the two teams? Australia’s inexperience and India’s experience. On a pitch where strike rotation was tough, one could say that it was a good toss to lose for India as they could pace the chase well. They mixed caution with aggression perfectly. Shreyas and Virat Kohli forged a 91-run stand and that was followed by handy contributions from the likes of Axar, Rahul and Hardik. India, throughout the chase, had the asking rate under control and hunted down the total with 11 balls to spare.
India are through to the final which will be played here in Dubai where they’ve played all their matches this tournament. While it’s fair to say that it’s been advantageous for them, they have been a gun side for 14 years in ICC ODI events.
World Champions in 2011, CT winners in 2013, semifinalists in the 2015 WC, runners-up in the 2017 CT, semifinalists in the 2019 WC and runners-up in the 2023 WC. Can Rohit and Co, who lifted the T20 World Cup last year win another ICC trophy They’ll be facing either South Africa or New Zealand – two teams who’ll lock horns against each other in Lahore tomorrow.