Shastri wants India to go with same playing XI for Champions Trophy semis vs Australia

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri advised Rohit Sharma and co. to stick with the same playing XI for the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia. The Men in Blue’s strategy to play four spinners on Sunday paid off, with the spin unit bagging 9 out of 10 wickets. Varun Chakravarthy, who replaced Harshit Rana in the playing XI, was the standout performer, picking up a 5-wicket haul in just his second ODI.

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As per ICC, Shastri reckoned that the spinners will once again come into play on March 4 when India take on Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final. He explained that the square was a little tired following the game against New Zealand, pointing out that players had run over the surface that was going to be used on Tuesday.

“The square is a little tired at the moment, people have run on the pitch that is going to be used the day after, so the spinners will again come into play,” Shastri said.

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Put in to bat first, India’s top-order failed to fire, with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Gill and Kohli flopping. It was due to Shreyas Iyer’s 79-run knock and contributions from Axar, Hardik and KL Rahul that India were powered to 249 runs at the end of their 1st innings.

It was the spinners who did the job for India against New Zealand ultimately. Kuldeep, Axar, Varun and Jadeja managed to effectively apply the breaks on the Kiwi batters and get breakthroughs at frequent intervals and important occasions. Given the nature of the surface that was seen on Sunday, Shastri reckons that the team batting first and putting up a 250-run total can make the semi-final very competitive.

“So if you bat first, put anything over 240-250, it’s going to be very competitive in a big game like a semi-final,” Shastri said.