India right-arm leg breaker Varun Chakravarthy made a necessary breakthrough by dismissing dangerous Travis Head for 39 runs off the very first delivery he bowled against the left-handed batter in Champions Trophy 2025.
The first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 was scheduled to be played between Rohit Sharma-led India and Steve Smith-led Australia on March 4 in Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.
Australia and India have played 151 ODIs so far with Australia winning most of the games. In 151 ODI clashes, Australia have won 84 matches while India stands at a distance with 57 wins.
Speaking of the ICC ODI competitions, Australia lead 10-7 but since 2020, it has been even 7-7. Notably, Australia ends India’s undefeated streak in the ODI World Cup 2023 by defeating India in the final in Narendra Modi Stadium.
India’s only defeat at CWC 2023 came in that one game in which their spinners failed to take a single wicket (Kuldeep and Jadeja returned 0/99 in 20 overs between them).
Varun registered his first wicket of the game in his very second delivery of the match. After surviving a couple of dismissal chances, Travis Head was expected to be a game-changer for Australia but Rohit made a surprise move by introducing Varun in the ninth over.
In the second delivery of the ninth over, Varun Chakravarthy tossed up full on off and middle while Head got forward to loft and miscued it. Gill who stood at long off position ran forward and took an impressive catch to dismiss Head.
In the very first legal delivery of the inning, Mohammed Shami drops Travis Head for a duck later Travis Head survives a direct throw from Jadeja.
Speaking of the match, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first where Travis Head and Cooper Connolly opened the inning while Shami made the bowling attack.
Mohammed Shami dropped Travis Head for duck but made a bounce back in the third over by dismissing Cooper Connolly for a nine-ball duck. Though Australia lost an early wicket, their key player Travis Head made a stand and started to add runs for the team.
