- There will be a different pitch at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday where India and Australia will face off in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025. The big clash will be played on March 4, where a fresh pitch is expected to be prepared for the match. However, captain Rohit Sharma has confirmed that he is not aware of the condition of the pitch.
Champions Trophy 2025 New pitch ready for semi-final
After leading his team to a stellar performance in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025, Indian captain Rohit Sharma is now set to take on the mighty Australian side led by Steve Smith in the first semi-final. Whenever these two teams clash, the game is always a blockbuster as neither gives the other a chance to play freely.
Now, when there is a lot of uproar against the Indian team playing all their matches in Dubai, the Indian captain defended his team in a recent press conference and clarified that Dubai is not their home ground and also said that the pitches there are behaving differently.
As Rohit pointed out, India has played their last three matches against Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand on completely different surfaces, which behave differently.
Furthermore, Sharma also revealed that he has no information about the pitch that will be used for this semifinal. This is huge news as the pitch that is being used is a new one that has been prepared by the International Cricket Council (ICC), as per a report in Cricbuzz.
Moreover, the pitch will be prepared by Dubai-based pitch curator Matthew Sandry, who also oversees the ICC Academy in the same region.
Apparently, it seems the Indian skipper hasn’t seen the wicket yet, while opposition skipper Steve Smith had a good look at the pitch on the eve of the match.
It will be interesting to see how the wicket performs in the match as most of the pitches here have been slow and low, while this pitch is also not expected to be much different from the other pitches.
India will face Australia on March 4
Talking about the match, the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025 between India and Australia will be played on Tuesday, March 4 at 2:30 PM IST. The Men in Blue topped the points table while Australia finished second in Group B after two of their matches were abandoned due to rain.