Pat Cummins and his dream of silencing a huge crowd stayed long and hard in the minds of both the Indian Cricketers and Indian Fans. He is not here for this tournament but Steve Smith will be looking to do the same. After 2011, India and Australia faced off four times in ODI Tournaments with India winning two games. The Two they lost though were the Semi-Finals in 2015 and the Finals in 2023. An Year and a half from November 19th 2023, Australia stand in the way of India again. They are a new look side though with their pace trio missing. The gap between the two sides is evident but it was in 2023 as well until Australia's recent golden generation pushed through with their fielding, choked India's batters and then leaving Travis Head to do a lot of carnage.

India will be watchful again. They know what Australia can do. They recently lost the Border Gavaskar trophy which saw their tormenters Steve Smith and Travis Head go really well and both are in contention again. Adam Zampa is a danger on turning tracks too while Glenn Maxwell is another threat. Adding to that, the youngsters in Australia are pretty lively which will leave India with plenty to watch. Their own line-up has some happy headaches. With Dubai spinning India now have to pick between three spinners or four. Varun Chakravarthy came in really well against New Zealand but if he is to play who sits out? Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja provide batting depth while Kuldeep Yadav is a key wicket-taker in the middle-overs.

IND vs AUS Match Details

Date: March 4th, 2025

Time:  2:30 PM IST

Venue: Dubai International Stadium

IND vs AUS Weather Report

Clear weather and a nice evening is expected for the game.

India vs Australia Pitch Report

Average Score Batting First in the last three games: 239

Average Score Batting Second in the last three games: 226

Wins Batting First in the last three games: 1

Wins Batting Second in the last three games: 2

Batting second has a huge advantage at Dubai with teams averaging higher in the second innings.

See Also: Wasim Akram comes down hard on Pakistan

New Zealand vs India Head to Head

Stats	Matches	AUS Won	IND Won	NR	Tie
Overall	151	54	87	10	0
At Dubai	0	0	0	0	0
Last Five ODIs	5	2	3	0	0

IND vs AUS Predicted Playing XI

AUS Playing XI

Jake Fraser Mcgurk, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Jos Inglis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

IND Playing XI

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy

India vs Australia Key Players

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer has tweaked his technique a touch and is looking a lot  better against short balls. He was really good against spin too moving really well and could be handy in the middle overs.

Steve Smith

India will be watchful of Travis Head but a player who has been an even bigger thorn for them is Steve Smith. He has scored heaps of runs in the BGT from 2014, halted India's progress with a century in the World Cup Semi-Final in 2015, and is a huge pain in the back for the Indian Team. He is yet to get going this tournament though with games washed out. 

IND vs AUS Match Tips

India do look favorites but Australia in knockout territory are a different beast.

Match Prediction: Australia Will Win the Match