India on familiar pitch but wary of Aussie factor
Rohit Sharma’s side will be keen to win the Champions Trophy semis and make some amends for the 2023 World Cup final loss
Dubai: November 19, 2023 had sent India’s legion of cricket fans into mourning. That night in Ahmedabad when the Pat Cummins-led Australia silenced a lakh-plus Indian supporters inside the stadium and millions within and beyond the country, many of whom having taken for granted that the ODI World Cup was coming home.
The Indian team that will take on Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final here on Tuesday is virtually unchanged from the one that tripped up in the World Cup final. That is not the case with Australia.
Cummins isn’t here in Dubai, only his giant cut-out is. His withdrawal was so last minute there was no time to remove his image from the promotions. Steve Smith, who is leading Australia in Cummins’ absence, refuses to make any pronouncements. It may be that he knows the task is hard enough, what with him leading a depleted bowling attack that is up against a much-vaunted Indian batting line-up.
His stop-gap bowling unit – there is no Mitchell Starc or Josh Hazlewood either – has to measure up against one that has all the cards needed for the slow and low pitches here. India have twice chased down totals and defended successfully once in Dubai. Australia have qualified for the semi-finals after playing one-and-a-half matches, winning the game against England.
From all of India’s seasoned spinners, it is wildcard Varun Chakravarthy who would have kept the Australia analyst busy following his five-wicket exploit against New Zealand on Sunday. Rohit Sharma said it was “very tempting” to play Chakravarthy and that he had done all that was asked of him.
Rohit also said it was equally tempting to come out with four spinners, again. Against the Kiwis, India spinners bowled 37.3 of the 45.3 overs; 29 of the 30 overs in the middle were bowled by spinners, the batters finding it impossible to find boundaries in a cluster.
In the 1960s and 70s, India had a spin quartet that was a cut above the rest. They hoodwinked batters into submission with their guile. But they played only one Test together. With the slow pitches on offer in Dubai, Chakravarty-Kuldeep Yadav-Ravindra Jadeja-Axar Patel may not remain a solo act.
If India still think playing just a seamer and allrounder Hardik Pandya is a big risk for a knockout round, they may slot Harshit Rana back in, replacing Kuldeep Yadav.
After a hard-fought win against the Kiwis, India took it easy on Monday. Rohit though will hope the coin toss goes his way. He’s called 13 tosses in a row wrong. Tuesday may be a good day to break that run. On the evidence of India’s three matches, the track appears to be progressively offering more turn.
“We saw a little spin today. We didn’t see that much spin in the last game. So, there are different things happening on every surface,” Rohit told reporters ahead of the semis. “Even for us it is a little bit of a question mark as to which pitch is being played. This is not our home, this is Dubai. So, we don’t play so many matches here. This is new for us too.”
Home advantage or not, it’s a game that comes with the ‘losers go home’ notice. These are matches Australia play particularly well. Their bowling may not be of the same class, but opener Travis Head hasn’t gone anywhere. India knows well what damage he can do.
Partnering him will be one of the hard-hitting Jake Fraser-McGurk or Josh Inglis, another forced change after Matthew Short was ruled out due to injury. India is sure to pick left-arm spin all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Australia have two left-arm pacers – Spencer Johnson and Ben Dwarshuis. Australia would hope they can make early inroads. In what may otherwise be a spin-slug fest – Adam Zampa will be their lead tweaker, young Tanveer Sangha in support with Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne the part-time options. How Rohit and Shubman Gill tackle the left-arm pacers will be another battle to watch.
“Yeah, we’re missing some frontline bowlers that have done it for a long time, but we said at the start of the tournament that we’re focusing on what we’ve got here,” Smith said. “We’ve got some guys here that have performed nicely. It’s good exposure for them to be able to play in an international tournament on a big stage and you know they’ve handled themselves really well. So, hopefully another good performance from the guys tomorrow and we can get into another final.”
Rohit said: “Look, it’s a great opposition to play against. All we had to do is how we’ve been thinking about the last three games. We have to approach this in a similar fashion. Australia have been such a great team over the years. So, we will expect some fight back. We will expect some nervy times as well in the middle. And you’re talking about a semi-final.”
