IND vs AUS, Semi-Final: Facing Australia in Champions Trophy after 16 years, will Rohit Sharma change this 'misfortune' of Team India in the semi-finals?

The first semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025 is to be played between India and Australia today. After 16 years, both the teams are going to play against each other in this tournament. After such a long time, both the teams are going to compete directly in the semi-finals. Fans of India and Australia are eagerly waiting for this match because this match will confirm their place in the final. But Indian fans are a little nervous before this match. The reason is Australia and the 14-year-old 'bad luck' associated with it. Now the question is whether Indian captain Rohit Sharma will be able to end this and enter the final?

What is the 14 year old bad luck?

Currently, India and Australia are counted among the top-2 teams in the world of cricket. Therefore, a tough competition is expected between the two. However, the conditions in Dubai are in favor of the Indian team. Apart from this, the Indian team looks stronger than the Australian team that came without many key players. But before the match, the fear of 14-year-old 'bad luck' has started haunting.

In fact, for the last 14 years, whenever Australia faces India in the ICC knockout matches, India is out of the tournament. Since 2011, Team India has never been able to defeat the Kangaroo team in any knockout match of the ICC ODI tournament. The last time India defeated Australia in the quarter-final match of the 2011 ODI World Cup under Dhoni's captaincy was in the 2011 ODI World Cup and knocked them out of the tournament.

After that, in the 2015 World Cup, Australia defeated India in the semi-finals and knocked them out. In the 2023 ODI World Cup final, the Australian team defeated India in Ahmedabad and deeply hurt the Indian fans. Now once again, it has become a big hurdle in the way of the Champions Trophy.

Will Rohit change his fate?

Now the question is whether Rohit Sharma will be able to change the fate and remove the biggest hurdles of Team India. Before knowing this, it is important to see the record of both the teams. Let's start with this tournament. India and Australia have faced each other 4 times in the Champions Trophy. In this, Team India has won 2 matches, while Australia has won 1 time. On the other hand, the Kangaroo team is far ahead in the ICC ODI World Cup.

Out of 14 matches, it has won 9 matches, while it has won only 5 matches. If we talk about the overall ODI record, then here too the Australian team seems to have the upper hand. So far, both the teams have faced each other in 151 ODI matches. During this time, Australia won 84 matches and India won 57 matches, while there was no result in 10 matches. Now if we look at these figures, there seems to be a big risk of defeat. But many other aspects are supporting India.

Why is India the favourite?

Despite its poor record in knockouts against Australia, India is considered a favorite in Dubai. The first reason is that the conditions of Dubai suit the Indian team. Team India looks strong here due to the help for spinners. Team India has not lost any match on this ground in ODIs so far. Apart from this, mystery spinner Varun Chakraborty can become a new threat for Australia. At the same time, Indian batsmen are also in great form. Due to playing continuously on the same ground, Team India has got a good understanding of the pitch, which can be beneficial.

On the other hand, Australia's pace attack does not look as strong as before due to the absence of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis. Now the team's stormy opener Matthew Short is also out, who has been replaced by spin all-rounder Cooper Connolly. But among the spinners, only Adam Zampa is the main bowler. In such a situation, the spin attack does not look that strong at the moment. However, there are other spin bowlers in the Kangaroo team, but only time will tell how much impact they will be able to show. These are some of the reasons due to which India seems to be the favorite in this match.