Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar reckons that India might prefer playing Australia over South Africa in the semi-final of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.
Having defeated Bangladesh and Pakistan in their first two Group A matches, India have already qualified for the semi-final. The Men in Blue will face New Zealand in their last group fixture on Sunday (Match 2) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Irrespective of their standings in the points table, the Rohit Sharma-led side will play the first semi-final in Dubai on March 4 while the Kiwis will play their final-four clash in Lahore on March 5.
With barely a few days remaining for the semis, Gavaskar shared his views on whom would India want to prefer facing in the knockout fixture.
The 75-year-old opined that the Indian team would like to face Australia due to their inexperienced pace attack.
“Both teams are formidable teams, make no mistake. There’s no such team that India will say, because now they know, they’ve come to the knockout stages. Here it’s now make or break, so I don’t think they would prefer to have any team. Maybe Australia because they’ve played Australia, they know Australia little bit better than South Africa whom they last played in the T20 World Cup 2024 final. So maybe they might prefer Australia because Australia are without their main bowlers. There’s no Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood so maybe they would want to play them,” Gavaskar told India Today.
Australia opened their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign in an emphatic manner as they chased down the massive target of 352 against England with five wickets in hand. Subsequently, both of their fixtures against South Africa and Afghanistan got washed out as they made it to the semis with four points.
However, in a worrying sign for India, Australian opener Travis Head looked in brilliant touch during the match against Afghanistan. The southpaw, who has been India’s nemesis in recent times, played a quick-fire knock of 59 (40 balls).
Hence, India would be wary of Head’s form if they do end up facing each other in the Champions Trophy semi-final.
