India will cross swords against Australia in the semi-final 1 of the Champions Trophy 2025. The two teams will face-off at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where all of India’s matches are scheduled.
This will be India’s third game at this venue in this tournament. Notably, India refused to travel to Pakistan and the International Cricket Council (ICC) had to shift their matches to Dubai, where the first semi-final and the final will also be played.
India’s three group matches in Dubai had three different pitches. However, they were not new as recently, they were used for the International League T20 matches. Now, in a major update, Cricbuzz has confirmed that the semi-final bout between India and Australia will see a fresh surface.
Matthew Sandery, who is an Australian, is the curator of this pitch. The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) under the supervision of the ICC are preparing the pitches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
This is not our home: Rohit Sharma on Dubai pitches
There was a lot of buzz on Team India being favoured as they are playing at the same venue for the entirety of the tournament. Addressing this, India captain Rohit Sharma denied such claims, stating that India are not playing at their home ground.
"In the semifinal, we don’t know which pitch is going to be played. Yes, we don’t know which pitch is going to be played in the semi-final. But whatever happens, we have to adapt and see what is happening. We will play on that. This is not our home, this is Dubai. So, we don’t play so many matches here. This is new for us too," Rohit said as quoted in the pre-match presser.
As India had an off day on Monday, Rohit did not have a look at the pitch. However, Australia captain Steve Smith spent his time assessing the pitch. As per Smith, the wicket is dry and could play like the ones in the group matches despite being completely new.
"Obviously the whole square block is pretty dry. Having spoken to the groundsman just now, a dry surface had a lot of traffic, so we’ve seen how the wickets have played," Smith said.
For More Updates on India vs Australia CT2025 Live
India vs Australia Live Scorecard
