India is likely to field four spinners against Australia in the Champions Trophy semifinal in Dubai. Having benefited from Varun Chakaravarthy over Harshit Rana, the team may stick to the strategy if conditions suit. Australia must replace the injured Matthew Short, with Jake Fraser-McGurk as a backup opener, though all-rounder Cooper Connolly could slot into the middle order, pushing Steve Smith up.
Predicted Playing XIs
India – Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy/ Harshit Rana
Australia – Travis Head, Jake Fraser-McGurk/ Cooper Connolly, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshius, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
Squads
Australia – Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa.
India – Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana