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Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels that Team India's potential preference for facing Australia over the South African team in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final clash stems from a combination of familiarity and perceived vulnerabilities within the Australian squad.
The legendary cricketer highlights that while the two sides are extremely formidable, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian side significantly has more exposure to Aussie cricket. This has increased the familiarity gained through frequent bilateral series and major tournaments, allowing the Men in Blue to possess a deeper understanding of Australia's playing style, strengths, and weaknesses.
This knowledge, in a high-stakes knockout game, might give a crucial psychological and tactical edge to Rohit Sharma and his men over the Steve Smith-led Australian side.
“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," Sunil Gavaskar said on India Today.
Sunil Gavaskar pinpoints to Australia's depleted bowling as a key factor
In addition, the cricketer-turned-analyst further highlighted the current composition of the Australian bowling attack as a key factor for the Indian team. The absence of their premier fast bowlers, like Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood, significantly weakens their bowling lineup.
This depletion creates a chance for the Indian batting unit to capitalize on what Sunil Gavaskar perceives as a less potent Australian bowling attack, which might help Team India to storm into the final of the Champions Trophy 2025 clash.
“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,” he added further.