Australia captain Steve Smith believes that opener Travis Head will again fire against India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 clash at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai. Travis Head has a history against India, he always performs against the Men in Blue in a high-voltage clash.
Smith explained that the Travis Head was in great touch during their last clash against Afghanistan which ended without a result because of rain. Australia skipper hopes that Smith will play with good intent and aggression against India
“There's pressure every time you play in a big game. But as we know, Travis has stood up in many of those in the past. You know, he looked in great touch the other night against Afghanistan.
“I'm sure he's going to be looking to come out here and play the same way he's played for a long time with good intent, good aggression. Hopefully, he can get away in that power play and get results from that.”
Smith also said that Indian spinners will play a huge role in Dubai pitches and Australia's fortunes in the semifinal depend on how they negate the slow bowlers.
India featured with four spinners in their last outing against New Zealand where the Men in Blue choked the Blackcaps batting unit to register a 44-run win.
“I think not just Chakravarthy, I think the rest of their spin has quality as well. So I think for us, the game is probably how we play their spin. Yeah, it's going to be a challenge,” Smith said on Monday, on the eve of the last-four match against India.
“I think there's going to be some spin and yeah, we've got to counter that. We'll see how we do that tomorrow. We've got a few options on how we can go about it,” he added.
Smith hoped that their net sessions in Dubai would be good enough for them to counter a strong Indian side, which played all its matches here.
“India obviously played all the games here. So they've seen what the pitch is doing. I don’t know if it is an advantage. Obviously, the whole square block is pretty dry. So, we've seen how the wickets are played.”
Australia arrived in Dubai after their rain-affected last league match against Afghanistan, and had to wait for India’s match against New Zealand to know their eventual semifinal venue.
