The Indian cricket team marched into another ICC final as Rohit Sharma‘s men defeated Australia in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025 on Tuesday. Virat Kohli laid the foundation of India’s tricky run-chase with his splendid 84 off 98 balls while Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul provided useful contributions the middle. Considering India’s poor record against Australia in ICC knockout events, the scenes from the dressing room summed up how ecstatic the players were to seal a spot in the final, especially skipper Rohit Sharma and the senior marksman Virat Kohli.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!A video has surfaced on social media, showcasing the celebrations that took place in the Indian dressing room after the team’s win. Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma were spotted jumping with joy as emotions flowed uninterrupted.
I LOVE THIS TEAM SO MUCH, SOO MUCH pic.twitter.com/XzajzJVBvc
— Pallavi Anand (@PallaviSAnand) March 4, 2025
With the victory against Australia, Team India avenged their 2023 ODI World Cup final loss against the same opponents, though the focus now remains on going the distance in the final on Sunday.
As India showed incredible consistency to sail into the Champions Trophy final, many have accused them of getting ‘unfair advantage’ from playing all of their matches in Dubai. When India head coach Gautam Gambhir was asked about the same in the post-match press conference, he shredded the accusation into pieces.
“I know, there’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage. But what is an undue advantage? First of all, this is as much of a neutral venue for us as it is for any other team. I don’t remember which tournament we played in this stadium last time,” Gambhir said in the post-match press meet.
“We haven’t practiced here even for a day. We practiced in the ICC Academy. The conditions there and here are 180 degrees different. Some people are just perpetual cribbers. So, I feel we didn’t have any undue advantage,” further said.
India will now face the winners of the second semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand in the title-decider on Sunday.
from: NDTV Sports-Latest