Dubai
\nAustralia captain Steve Smith says his team are confident they can counter India\u2019s quality spin attack in their Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday.
\nThe two teams will face off at the Dubai International Stadium in a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final won by Australia in Ahmedabad.
\nAustralia beat rivals England by five wickets in their opening match but their next two games were abandoned because of rain in the Pakistani cities of Rawalpindi and Lahore.
\nIndia made it three wins from three in Group A with a victory over New Zealand on Sunday delivered by their four spinners on a tricky pitch.
\nVarun Chakravarthy took 5-42 in Dubai in only his second one-day international to boost his hopes of selection.
\n\u201cYeah, I mean, not just Chakravarthy, I think the rest of their spin is quality as well,\u201d Smith told reporters on Monday.
\n\u201cSo I think for us, the game is probably won and lost how we play their spin, particularly in the middle overs, the way we get through there. It\u2019s going to be a challenge.
\n\u201cI think there\u2019s going to be some spin, by the looks of it. Yeah, we\u2019ve got to counter that\u2026 We\u2019ve got a few options of ways we can go about it.\u201d
\nThe world champions are missing several key players including fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc to injuries.
\nBut Smith said they could call upon part-time spinners, including Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, to support Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell on a track he believes \u201clooks a dry surface\u201d.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of part-time options that could certainly play a role on here and a couple of front-liners as well,\u201d he said.
\nAggressive Head
\nCooper Connolly, a batting all-rounder who bowls left-arm spin, has joined the squad as a replacement for Matthew Short, who was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to a thigh injury.
\nBoth Australia and Group B winners South Africa flew to Dubai from Pakistan without knowing who they would play in the semi-finals, the line-up for which was decided after the India-New Zealand match.
\nIndia have been slammed for playing all their games at one venue, in Dubai, while other teams shuttle between three Pakistani cities and the UAE.
\nIndia refused to play in host nation Pakistan due to political reasons.
\nBut Smith played down any perceived disadvantage. \u201cWe guessed right in the end,\u201d Smith said on his team travelling to Dubai.
\n\u201cWe had a little reset and a chance to have a couple of days here outside of a pretty strict sort of bubble, I suppose, in Pakistan with the security and stuff. It\u2019s been nice to just have a couple of days chill here, a bit of training.\u201d
\nAustralia beat India by six wickets in the 2023 World Cup final, with Head hitting an unbeaten 137.
\n\u201cI mean, there\u2019s pressure every time you play in a big game,\u201d said Smith of Head.
\n\u201cBut, as we know, Travis has stood up in many of those in the past. And, you know, he looked in great touch the other night against Afghanistan.
\n\u201cI\u00b4m sure he\u2019s going to be looking to come out here and play the same way he\u2019s played for a long time, with good intent, good aggression.\u201d
\nSouth Africa face New Zealand in the second semi-final in Lahore on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dubai Australia captain Steve Smith says his team are confident they can counter India\u2019s quality spin attack in their Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday. The two teams will face off at the Dubai International Stadium in a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final won by Australia in Ahmedabad. Australia beat rivals England …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":77900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77904,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77886\/revisions\/77904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}