ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Who said what after semi-final 1, IND vs AUS

India defeated Australia by four wickets in the first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

On Tuesday, March 4, India defeated Australia by four wickets in the first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The Men in Blue will now face the winners of the second semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand in Dubai on March 9.

Chasing 265, the Indian innings was led by the “Chase Master” Virat Kohli. Kohli top-scored for India with 84 off 98 balls, which included five fours. After a couple of early wickets, he stabilized the Indian innings with Shreyas Iyer with a 91-run stand for the third wicket.

KL Rahul (42) and Hardik Pandya (28) then applied the finishing touch to seal a crucial four-wicket win in the semi-finals.

In the first innings, India struck at regular intervals to restrict Australia to 264 runs. Mohammed Shami emerged as India’s most successful bowler with three wickets. Steve Smith and Alex Carey led the scoring for Australia with contributions of 73 and 61 runs respectively.

Who said what after semi-final 1, IND vs AUS

Virat Kohli – Player of the Match

Reacting to India’s win and being adjudged as Player of the Match in semi-final 1, Kohli emphasized that his approach was similar to the game against Pakistan. He noted that he focused on building key partnerships and taking the game deep.

“It was pretty similar to the other day against Pakistan as well. For me it is about understanding the basics and preparing my game accordingly.. just rotating strike because on this pitch partnerships are the most important thing. My only effort that day and today was to string in enough partnerships.“

When asked what pleased him most about his innings today, the star Indian batter said his timing was perfect. He mentioned that he wasn’t desperate and focused on rotating the strike with singles and doubles.

“I wasn’t feeling desperate and feeling happy knocking ones around and when as a batsman you start taking pride in taking singles into the gaps, that is when you know you are playing good cricket and you know you are in for a big partnership. In the game against Pakistan and today that was the most pleasing factor for me.“

Rohit Sharma – India captain

Rohit Sharma acknowledged that the pitch was better today compared to the New Zealand game. He emphasized that while playing big shots wasn’t easy, the team felt it was a reasonable score at the halfway mark.

“At the halfway stage, we felt like it’s a reasonable score. The nature of the pitch doesn’t allow you play your shots. We were clinical with the bat. We were calm and composed in our chase. Looked better (pitch).“

“Slightly played better than the one against NZ. It’s about playing good cricket. There are a lot of experienced guys. That’s something I wanted to have – six bowling options and at the same get that batting depth as well. Credit goes to everyone who were involved in making the team.“

When asked about the final and the team’s preferred opponent, Rohit said he wasn’t looking too far ahead and acknowledged that both South Africa and New Zealand are very good teams.

“We’ll not think too much about it. Both are good teams, that’s why they are in the semis. It’s a very high pressure tournament, it’s always nice to have some time off and relax and then think about the final.“

Steve Smith – Australia captain

Australian captain Steve Smith praised his bowlers for taking the game deep. He acknowledged that if the team had scored over 280 runs in the first innings, the outcome could have been different.

“I thought the bowlers did a really good job, they worked hard throughout, the spinners squeezed and took the game deep. It was a tricky wicket to start on batting, tough to rotate the strike, everyone did a really good job tonight. It played pretty similar throughout.“

“We probably could have got a few more on. We lost a couple of wickets at crucial times. If we got 280+, things would have been different. Felt like we were one wicket too many down at each stage of the game. The way we’ve come together.“

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