India defeated Australia in the first semi-final by four wickets in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, 4 March. With this thumping win, India enter the final of the tournament which will be played at the same venue on Sunday. (Match Highlights | Full Coverage)
Men In Blue chased down a tricky target of 265 runs in Dubai to enter their third consecutive final of the tournament after 2013 and 2017. India won the 2013 edition under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy but lost the 2017 final against Pakistan.
With this win, Rohit Sharma has become the only captain in world cricket to enter all ICC event finals, including the ODI World Cup (2023), World Test Championship (2023), ICC T20 World Cup (2024) and now ICC Champions Trophy (2025).
But what were the guiding forces for India's historic win over Australia, let's discuss five talking points here
1. Varun Chakravarthy's Rise
Varun Chakravarthy's selection raised many eyebrows as he was selected in the Indian squad in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is an opener batter. With Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja already playing and performing well, it was believed that Chakravarthy will not get his turn. But he got a nod in the third group-stage match against New Zealand where he took a five-wicket haul in his just second ODI match.
India came with four spinners in the semi-final match against Australia and Chakravarthy proved vital by taking the most-important wicket of opener batter Travis Head with his second delivery of the match. He ended his spell with the bowling figures of 2/49.
2. Mohammed Shami Strikes
Shami's fitness has been an issue for more than a year now. Despite being ineffective against England in the ODI series, he was retained in the squad for the tournament and looked okay in the group-stage matches. But he gained his peak again in the knockouts and looked in great touch in his first spell in the match.
He dismissed the opener batter Cooper Connolly in the third over and also dismissed the set batter Steve Smith and Nathan Ellis later in the match. His three wickets in the match were crucial for helping India to restrict Australia to 264 runs.
3. India's Rising Fielding Standards
India's fielding was top-notch in the semi-final match against Australia. There were some half-chances where the approach could have been better but Shreyas Iyer's brilliant display of fielding to run-out Alex Carey and Shubman Gill's catch of Travis Head while covering a lot of distance were some points in the match where the momentum shifted.
KL Rahul's diving catch to dismiss Cooper Connolly and Virat Kohli's catch at covers to dismiss Josh Inglis were also good grabs.
4. Chase Master King Kohli
Indian star Virat Kohli missed his 52nd ODI century by just 16 runs but played a brilliant knock once again while chasing to help his team win the match. He also completed his 8000 runs while chasing in ODIs.
He has an average of 64 and he proved once again why he is called 'Chase Master'. Most of his runs came from singles and doubles. He hit only five fours in his 84-run knock, which shows his brilliant running between the wickets and game awareness.
5. Dependable Middle-Order
Apart from Virat Kohli, many middle-order batters have displayed their batting prowess when needed. Today, it was Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Axar Patel. Iyer is in fine touch and he stitched a 91-run partnership with Kohli for the third wicket and made 45 runs.
Patel also made 27 runs while coming to bat before Rahul. Hardik Pandya played with freedom and hit three sixes in his short but sweet knock. Rahul can bat at any number in the batting order and he has adapted himself well at his new position at number six. He played an unbeaten knock of 42 runs and also hit the winning six.
