Finally, India's wound of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 Final loss against Australia got some healing sense after Men in Blue beat Australia by four wickets in the first Semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. 

It was a good fighting game, where Australian captain Steven Smith rightly chose to bat first at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. While Australia put the challenging total of 264 all out (49.3 overs), India chased down the target in 48.1 overs after losing six wickets. 

Australia lost plots after making multiple comebacks

The new Aussie opener Cooper Connolly had a hard luck as he scored a nine-ball duck as Mohammed Shami got that wicket. Another opener Travis Head was strongly hitting the Indian pacers after managing some luck in the first few overs. However, at 39 off 33 balls (five fours and two sixes), Varun Chakravarthy took Head's wicket in the ninth over as Shubman Gill took a good catch running from the long off. 

Captain Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne had some early luck as they had a 56-run partnership for the third wicket. Ravindra Jadeja took Labuschagne's wicket, who scored 29 off 36 balls. Josh Inglis (11) was the next victim of Jadeja. 

Alex Carey batted well with Smith as they had a 54-run partnership for the fifth wicket. After completing his 50 runs in 68 balls, Smith was strongly approaching the big score, while Carey was moving the scoreboard quickly. However, Smith made one big mistake as he went to slog Mohammed Shami, and Shami's full toss hit the wicket after Smith missed it. It was a crucial wicket for India as Smith scored 73 off 96 balls with four fours and one six. 

Glenn Maxwell was bowled by Axar Patel for seven runs, and that dismissal happened next ball after Maxwell's sixer to Patel. Only Carey was adding strong runs since then, while Ben Dwarshuis (19) and Nathan Ellis (10) helped with double-digit scores. 

Carey completed his brave 50 runs in 48 balls and scored 61 off 57 balls with the help of eight fours and one six before Iyer's direct hit ended his innings. 

Among the Indian bowlers, Mohammed Shami (3/48) took three wickets, while Varun Chakravarthy (2/49) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/40) picked up two wickets each. 

Rough start didn't bother the "Super Chaser" Kohli and middle-order batters

At chasing, in-form opener Shubman Gill was bowled for eight runs by Ben Dwarshuis, while captain Rohit Sharma (28 off 29 balls) got two lives before Cooper Connolly dismissed him through an lbw. From the pressure situation, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer built up a 91-run partnership for the third wicket. 

Kohli completed his half-century in 53 balls, while Iyer was bowled by Adam Zampa after scoring 45 off 62 balls. While Kohli hit four fours to complete his half-century, he mostly worked with singles and doubles to rotate the strike strongly. 

Axar Patel and Kohli had another crucial 44-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Patel scored 27 off 30 balls before Nathan Ellis bowled him. Kohli had another valuable 47-run partnership with KL Rahul, who also produced valuable support in that tricky chase. 

Adam Zampa took Kohli's wicket after the Player of the Match scored 84 off 98 balls, where he hit only five fours. When Kohli was dismissed, India needed 40 runs in 44 balls. 

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Although Hardik Pandya played many dot balls in his 24-ball innings, his three long sixes, including two successive sixes in Zampa's last two balls of the match, became the ultimate decider of the Semi-final. Although Ellis dismissed Pandya for 28 off 24 balls, Rahul comfortably finished the game with Ravindra Jadeja. While Rahul was not out for 42 off 34 balls (two fours and two sixes), Jadeja scored two not out.

India set new records

With this win, India created new history by becoming the first team to reach the ICC Champions Trophy Final for the fifth time. They previously reached in the 2000, 2002, 2013, and 2017 editions, respectively. While they lost the 2000 Final against New Zealand, the 2002 Final had no results in two different matches (one official Final and the other reserve-day Final) and they jointly won that trophy with the hosts Sri Lanka, then India beat the hosts England in the 2013 Final to win the trophy, and ultimately lost the 2017 Final against Pakistan. 

The successful chase of 265 runs was also the highest successful chase against Australia in a knockout stage game of any ICC ODI tournaments.