A rematch of the 2023 ODI World Cup final for a place in the Champions Trophy decider
Champions Trophy semi-final: All you need to know
Match details
Who: India v Australia
What: Champions Trophy, semi-final 1
When: March 4, 2025, first ball 8pm AEDT
Where: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, UAE
How to watch: Amazon's Prime Video
Live scores: Match Centre
Officials: Chris Gaffaney and Richard Illingworth (standing), Michael Gough (third), Adrian Holdstock (fourth), Andy Pycroft (match referee)
Highlights, news and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app and the Unplayable Podcast.
In the latest episode, cricket.com.au's Louis Cameron and Josh Schonafinger preview the India v Australia semi-final. Listen and subscribe to the podcast below, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Australia's matches so far
February 22: Australia beat England by five wickets
February 25: No result v South Africa
February 28: No result v Afghanistan
India's matches so far
February 20: India beat Bangladesh by six wickets
February 23: India beat Pakistan by six wickets
March 2: India beat New Zealand by 44 runs
Broadcast info
As is now the case (and will be until the end of 2027), Amazon's Prime Video holds the rights to all ICC events. That means no free-to-air TV for this tournament – streaming it is your only option.
Prime Video is included in an Amazon Prime membership, and for new customers to Amazon the good news is that their 30-day free trial will last the entirety for the tournament – from Australia's first match to the final. And you can sign up here for a Prime Video 30-day free trial.
The squads
Australia: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa.
Matt Short's Champions Trophy campaign is over with an injured quad, replaced by travelling reserve Cooper Connolly.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja
Local knowledge
India's preferential schedule has been given plenty of attention and rightly so - all their matches, regardless of opponent or stage of the tournament, are to be held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. It seems like a massive advantage and so far has resulted in three wins for Gautam Gambhir's team.
We can look at India's playing XIs to see how they're reading to the pitch, with an additional spinner against New Zealand raising a few eyebrows. In their first two matches, quick Harshit Rana played alongside Mohammed Shami and spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, but Rana was left out in favour of leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy for the final group match against the Kiwis.
Scoring has been lower here than in Pakistan too - with the highest total being India's 249 against New Zealand.
Australia have a good record in Dubai: From the five ODIs they've completed here (all against Pakistan), they've won four.
Possible line-ups
Australia: Travis Head, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Steve Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
Who opens with Travis Head? Jake Fraser-McGurk is the logical answer and the most like-for-like replacement for the injured Matt Short. Australia could also look to promote either of the in-form Josh Inglis or Alex Carey, but their competency against spin might be better utilised in the middle order.
Cooper Connolly is now in the squad and can be selected, as can Aaron Hardie if the selectors opt for a bit more bowling. Tanveer Sangha will be itching to play on the spin-friendly Dubai pitch but it's been rare for Australia to go too spin heavy using recent ICC tournaments as a guide.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy
Given India made the switch to playing a fourth spinner ahead of their third match in Dubai, which resulted in a solid win over New Zealand, it's hard to see too many changes to their XI.
Varun Chakravarthy is a 33-year-old mystery spinner who many of the Aussies wouldn't have faced and he looms as an X-factor after his five-wicket haul against the Kiwis.
Rishabh Pant is in the squad but currently not in the XI, he could get a lifeline if India decide they need an extra left-hander in their right-handed dominant top order.
Form guide
Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, NR: no result
Australia: NR NR W L L L L W W L L
Australia may only have one win from their three group-stage matches but the signs have been good, just their weather hasn't been. The Aussies chased down 350+ against England in their tournament opener, which snapped a four-game losing streak in the ODI format, and had a positive beginning to their chase against Afghanistan which crucially included runs for key player, Travis Head.
India: W W W W W W L L T W
India have plenty form on their side with a 3-0 sweep over England heading into the CT and then three consecutive wins in the group stage - defeating Bangladesh by six wickets, Pakistan by six wickets and New Zealand by 44 runs.
Head-to-head
Overall: Played 151, Australia won 84, India won 57, 10 no results
Past 10 years: Played 34, Australia won 17, India won 17
In ICC tournaments: Played 18, Australia won 10, India won seven, one no result
Most runs (overall): Sachin Tendulkar 3077, Rohit Sharma 2379, Virat Kohli 2367, Ricky Ponting 2164, MS Dhoni 1660
Most runs (ICC tournaments): Ricky Ponting 513, Sachin Tendulkar 383, Mark Waugh 290, Virat Kohli 246, Steve Smith 224
Most wickets (overall): Brett Lee 55, Kapil Dev 45, Mitchell Johnson 43, Steve Waugh 43, Mohammed Shami 39
Most wickets (ICC tournaments): Brett Lee 10, Kapil Dev 9, Glenn McGrath 9, Steve Waugh 9, Damien Fleming 8, Craig McDermott 8
Rapid stats
- This is the first time that India will be meeting Australia in the semi-finals stage or later in Champions Trophy history; India have won twice and lost once against Australia in the competition, but the two sides haven’t played each other in the Champions Trophy since 2006.
- India will be facing Australia outside India for the first time since December 2020 when they won by 13 runs in Canberra, and have won four of their last six men’s ODIs against Australia outside India.
- Australia have won each of their last 10 completed matches in ICC ODI events, last losing to South Africa on 12 October 2023 by 134 runs; they have, however, won only two of their last five games against India in such competitions, including the most recent such meeting between the two sides in the final of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
- India are unbeaten in nine men’s ODIs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium (W8 T1); a win in this game would make them just the second side to complete 10 games in the format at any ground without losing after New Zealand (P10, W10 at University Oval, Dunedin).
- Australia’s and India’s spinners have maintained a bowling strike rate of 33 and 34.3 respectively during the tournament to date, the best and second best such aggregates of any team. Only South Africa’s spinners have bowled at a better economy rate (4.1) than India’s spinners (4.5) in this tournament.
- Australia’s and India’s batters have scored 72.3 per cent and 67.1 per cent of their runs during the opening Powerplay from boundaries at the tournament to date, the best and second best such rate among all teams. Australia have scored a boundary every 4.1 balls in this phase of the innings in the tournament, the best such rate of any team.
- Spencer Johnson has induced a false shot rate of 45.1 per cent from opposition batters so far this tournament, the best such rate of any bowler; Harshit Rana (41.3 per cent) is India’s best bowler in this category.
- Virat Kohli (49) is one away from becoming just the third India player to feature in 50 men’s ODIs against Australia (Sachin Tendulkar – 71, MS Dhoni – 55). Kohli has logged 22 scores of 50+ runs against Australia in the format.
- Adam Zampa (12) needs one four-wicket haul in men’s ODIs to equal Shane Warne’s record of most such spells by any Australia spinner in the format (13); Zampa’s last four-wicket haul in men’s ODIs came in Asia (4 for 8 vs Netherlands on 25 October 2023), but he hasn’t managed to achieve this feat in any of his last 20 games in the format.
- Rohit Sharma (India) has hit a boundary every 5.2 balls in the tournament, the second best such rate of any batter to have faced at least 50 balls behind Heinrich Klaasen (5.1 balls per boundary).
But what is the Champions Trophy?
It's been eight years since the last one so that's a very valid question!
Think of it as a mini-World Cup. Only eight sides, three pool matches each. It's short, sharp and over in about a fortnight. You'll notice regular sides like Sri Lanka and West Indies (both previous winners) have missed the cut for this tournament, as only the top eight ranked sides from the 2023 World Cup (including hosts Pakistan) qualified.
It was introduced as the 'ICC KnockOut Trophy', designed to raise funds for the development of the game in non-Test playing nations. Originally scheduled every two years, that was spaced out to every four between 2009-2017 but it was placed firmly on the back-burner when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, and was replaced entirely for a period to hold more T20 World Cups.
Australia have won the thing twice, back-to-back in 2006 and 2009. Part of the tournament's gimmick is that teams who win the trophy are awarded white blazers as part of their reward for taking out the title.
In 2002 the final was washed out, so India and Sri Lanka fronted up again on the reserve day. Unfortunately, the back up was also rained off, so the teams shared the title.
Previous winners:
1998 (in Bangladesh): South Africa
2000 (in Kenya): New Zealand
2002 (in Sri Lanka): India and Sri Lanka
2004 (in England): West Indies
2006 (in India): Australia
2009 (in South Africa): Australia
2013 (in England, Wales): India
2017 (in England, Wales): Pakistan
Beyond the white jackets, the winning team will pocket a grand prize of A$3.5m while the runners up will take home a far-from-shabby A$1.77m.
2025 ICC Men's Champions Trophy
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Australia's Group B fixtures
February 22: Australia beat England by five wickets
February 25: No result v South Africa
February 28: No result v Afghanistan
March 4: Semi-final 1, India v Australia
March 5: Semi-final 2, South Africa v New Zealand
March 9: Final, Lahore or Dubai (8pm AEDT)
Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa