Dubai, March 3 With the Indian top order of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer firing on all cylinders heading into their semifinal clash against Australia on Tuesday, Aussie skipper Steve Smith hailed his opponent batters’ ability to change gears.
Besides Rohit Sharma, whose highest score of the tournament was a quickfire 41 in the opening game against Bangladesh, Kohli and Gill have both reached the century mark once each, whereas Iyer has shown the ability to be a reliable batter at number 4 having scored the most runs by an Indian in the ongoing edition.
“They're dangerous players. I think the entire Indian batting line-up have the ability to go up and down in gears. They're a very good side with good cricketers. I think for us it's playing the conditions that are in front of us tomorrow and playing it better than the opposition simple as that
The last two times India and Australia clashed in a major knockout match, Australia emerged victorious, winning both the 2023 World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup final. With India opting for a spin-heavy squad tailored for the slow conditions in Dubai, questions arose about whether they had included one spinner too many.
However, Sunday's match validated their selection, and the late decision to introduce Varun Chakravarthy could prove to be a game-changer for India.
Smith believes the four Indian spinners as a whole have had opposition on thin ice during the ongoing tournament and is looking forward to tackling on the challenge.
“I think not just Chakravarthy, I think the rest of the spinners are quality as well, so I think for us the game's probably won and lost how we play this spin, particularly in the middle overs, the way we get through there. So yeah, it's going to be a challenge. I think that there's going to be some spin by the looks of it, looking at the surface. And yeah, we've got to counter that. So yeah, we'll see how we do that tomorrow. We've got a few options of ways we can go about it so you'll see tomorrow,” he said.
There has been a lot of talk surrounding India getting an undue advantage over other teams in the tournament as they played all their games, including a potential final, at the same venue at the Dubai International Circuit. However, the Australia batter does not see it as a huge advantage.
“In terms of an advantage, yeah, maybe, I'm not sure. Yeah, India obviously played all their games here. So, they've seen what the surface is doing. Obviously the whole square block is pretty dry. Having spoken to the groundsman just now, a dry surface had a lot of traffic, so we've seen how the wickets have played. And India have obviously played really well in their games as well. So, it's going to be a good contest. We're looking forward to it,” Smith said.
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