Former Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar made a big prediction ahead of the semi-final match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 to be held in Mumbai. He believes that the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team will be the favorite in the match against Australia on Tuesday.
Why Sunil Gavaskar Believes India Has the Upper Hand
Gavaskar pointed out a big weakness of Australia and said that their team’s spinners are weaker than India, which can create problems for them. Apart from this, the absence of key fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc is also no less than a big setback for Australia.
Australia’s Major Weakness – Lack of Strong Spinners
Gavaskar said in a conversation with ‘India Today’, ‘India will have the upper hand on this pitch because Australia does not have that strong spin bowling. Apart from this, their main fast bowlers Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc are also not in the team. However, Gavaskar praised Australia’s batting lineup and said that his team bats aggressively. He suggested that India should win the toss and bowl first, so that Australia remains under pressure.
Dubai Pitch Analysis – Gavaskar’s Take on Spin Advantage
There is a lot of discussion on the pitch of Dubai International Stadium. Recently, the New Zealand team could not even achieve the target of 250 runs in front of the Indian spinners. However, Gavaskar refused to call it impossible.
He said, ‘Not at all. If you look at the initial overs of our spinners, they did not get much help. As the pitch rolled and the pitch got a little better after the dew, the spinners started getting a little grip. But this was not an impossible wicket.’
The performance of the Indian team in this tournament has been excellent so far and has reached the semi-finals by winning all the group stage matches. Now it will be interesting to see how India performs against Australia in the semi-finals.
