Australia’s premier batsman Steve Smith has announced his retirement from One Day International (ODI) cricket. The announcement comes after Australia’s loss in the Champions Trophy semi-final against India, where Smith played a crucial knock of 73 runs. The 35-year-old Smith played 170 matches in his ODI career, scoring 5,800 runs at an average of 43.28, […]
India and Australia are set to face each other in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy on Tuesday in Dubai. India, having played all their matches at this venue due to political reasons, have adapted well to the conditions, especially favoring their spin bowlers. In their recent match against New Zealand, India’s spinners dominated,
If we look at India’s performance, they have been absolutely dominant in this tournament. They have won three matches easily and there seems to be balance in both batting and bowling departments. Players like Virat, Rohit and Shami are in form and can become game changers in any big match. New Zealand is also performing
Afghanistan, as expected, produced a strong performance to knock out England on Wednesday. Big players produced big performances and they will have no fear whatsoever going up against the Australians. Ibrahim Zadran, about as consistent a rungetter as you can get in this format, shattered records with a brilliant 177. Azmat Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi
Australia are without their first-choice pace attack. There’s no Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc. Marcus Stoinis, surprisingly, retired instead of playing this tournament and Mitchell Marsh is injured. Apart from that they’re tickety-boo. Concerns, then, about how they go with the ball are justified. Spinner Adam Zampa is the attack leader while he