India entered the Champions Trophy final on Tuesday after a four-wicket win over Australia at the Dubai International Stadium. The Men in Blue will await the winner of the second semi-final on Wednesday between New Zealand and South Africa. India were helped chase down the target of 265 by a composed 84 from Virat Kohli and a 45 from Shreyas Iyer. Australia, on the other hand, were uncharacteristically shoddy in the field, dropping Rohit Sharma twice and Kohli once.
Earlier, Steve Smith (73) and Alex Carey (61) scored half centuries. Australia were looking set for a hefty target but they lost the wickets of Steve Smith (bowled by Mohammed Shami for 73 runs) and Glenn Maxwell (removed by Axar Patel) in quick succession. Carey was run out for 61 after some splendid work in the field from Shreyas Iyer. For India, Shami claimed three wickets after Steve Smith had opted to bat first.
India have been firing on all cylinders since the tournament started defeating all comers with Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer in top form while Varun Chakravarthy showed what he was capable of in just one match when he took 5 wickets vs New Zealand in the last Group A match. Skipper Rohit Sharma, however, hasn’t yet converted his starts and is due a big score in this tournament.
Australia, meanwhile are without a lot of their stars from the ODI World Cup winning campaign with Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Mitch Marsh, Josh Hazlewood and Marcus Stoinis all unavailable due to various reasons. They, however, have Travis Head who has been a nightmare for India in recent years but he hasn’t yet played in Dubai this tournament. The transition from high scoring pitches in Pakistan to the sluggish Dubai surface will pose a challenge for Head and co. Indian Express