"There’s no Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood" - Batting legend predicts who India will prefer facing in 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final

Former Indian opening batter Sunil Gavaskar has opined on who Rohit Sharma and co. will prefer facing in Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final. Gavaskar believes the Men in Blue might be comfortable facing Australia, given their depleted pace attack over South Africa.

Australia comfortably qualified for the semi-finals on the back of beating England and washouts against South Africa and Afghanistan. With the two rain-affected games yielding one point each, the Men in Yellow were able to leave Afghanistan behind and qualify from Group B alongside South Africa. However, they have played with a pace attack comprising Spencer Johnson, Ben Dwarshuis and Nathan Ellis due to injuries to the big three.

Speaking to India Today, the 75-year-old acknowledged that both South Africa and Australia are formidable oppositions but he feels the 2013 winners might slightly prefer facing the latter. He explained:

"Both teams are formidable teams, make no mistake. There’s no such team that India will say, because now they know, they’ve come to the knockout stages. Here it’s now make or break, so I don’t think they would prefer to have any team.

"Maybe Australia because they’ve played Australia, they know Australia little bit better than South Africa whom they last played in the T20 World Cup 2024 final. So maybe they might prefer Australia because Australia are without their main bowlers. There’s no Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood so maybe they would want to play them."

The Men in Blue are on a roll as they have won both their games, beating Pakistan and Bangladesh comfortably. Should India beat New Zealand on Sunday (March 2), they will face Australia in the semi-final and a loss means the Proteas will be waiting to lock horns with them.

India faced South Africa and Australia in their last two ICC finals

Team India. (Image Credits: Getty)

Rohit and co. had faced Australia and South Africa in the last two white-ball global events. They had hosted the Men in Yellow during the 2023 World Cup in Ahmedabad but lost by six wickets, thanks to a spectacular hundred by Travis Head.

However, they beat South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 final in Barbados by seven runs to end their 13-year ICC title drought. Although Heinrich Klaasen played well, the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya pulled off a miraculous victory.