Champions Trophy: Australia opt to bat first against unchanged India in first semi-final

Dubai, March 4 (IANS) Australia have won the toss and opted to bat first against India in the first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy here at Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday.

Australia have made two changes in their playing 11 as Cooper Connolly comes in for Matt Short and Tanveer Sangha comes in for Spencer Johnson.

“We’ll have a bat. Looks a pretty dry surface. The guys had a couple of sessions, ready to go. It should take turn. Very good side – India. Two changes. Cooper Connolly comes in for Short, Sangha comes in for Johnson,” Australia skipper Steve Smith said at the toss.

On the other hand, India remain unchanged, and captain Rohit Sharma said his side was prepared for both batting and bowling.

“I was prepared to do both. When you’re confused, it’s better to lose the toss. The pitch keeps changing its nature. You have to play good cricket. We’ve played good cricket in all three games and that’s what we’ll try to do. It’s going to be challenging. We are playing with the same team. We want to continue from where we left. Now that we are bowling first, we have to bowl well and restrict them to as low as possible,” he said.

Indian team is wearing black armbands for the match in honour of the late Padmakar Shivalkar, who passed away on Monday. The legendary left-arm spinner was a stalwart of Indian domestic cricket, renowned for his unparalleled skill and dedication to the game.

Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

Australia: Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha.

–IANS

ab/