India’s astonishing bad luck at the toss; Varun gets Head first ball
0.00006103515 The probability of losing 14 consecutive tosses, which India have done in ODIs by losing the toss in the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia. Their current streak of lost tosses began at the 2023 ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad, where they lost the toss against Australia.
Rohit Sharma was captain in 11 of those 14 matches, one behind Brian Lara’s record for consecutive tosses lost as captain in men’s ODIs (12).
5 Fifty-plus scores in knockout matches for Steven Smith at the ICC ODI events (World Cup and Champions Trophy), behind only Sachin Tendulkar (6).
1 Varun Chakravarthy is the first spinner to dismiss Travis Head in the first ten overs of an ODI innings. Head scored 135 runs off 115 balls against spin in the first ten overs in ODIs without being dismissed before falling to Varun. This dismissal came off the first ball Varun had bowled to Head in any format.
1 Runs Head scored off his first eleven balls, the fewest he has at that point in an ODI innings. However, he scored 38 runs in his next 22 balls until his dismissal.
160 Catches for Virat Kohli in ODIs – joint-second most as a fielder, equalling Ricky Ponting and only behind Mahela Jayawardene’s 218.
4 Dismissals for Marnus Labuschagne against Ravindra Jadeja in ODIs. Haris Rauf (4) is the only other bowler to dismiss Marnus as often as Jadeja in this format. Marnus scored 120 runs against Jadeja across ten innings while striking at 66.67.
9 Balls faced by Cooper Connolly before falling for a duck, all off Mohammed Shami. Connolly had played and missed six straight balls before edging one to KL Rahul.
“We are contributing to a larger cause, so the quality of the cricket has to stand out” (3:01)
From Shikhar Dhawan mocking an injured Shane Watson in 2013 to David Warner being used as the official provocateur during the 2014-15 tour; from standing up to “mental disintegration” in 2004 to puerile fights on the field even in the aftermath of Phillip Hughes’ death.
There was a time when the rivalry between India and Australia appeared to have come within one chirp of actual physical blows on the field. India’s tour to Australia in 2018-19 had all the makings of being the ugliest ever, but before that happened, we had the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, and something changed.
That series featured mostly amusing banter but nothing remotely as nasty as we had become accustomed to seeing when India played Australia. Later last year, during the World Cup, India’s captain Virat Kohli asked the Indian fans to stop booing Steven Smith, who had done his time and paid his dues to come back on the field for the first time after his ban expired.
Thus, before the start of the 2020-21 Test series, we have reached a stage where some have been left wondering if this new-found respect between these teams will actually compromise the intensity and integrity of the Tests.
On the eve of the first Test in Adelaide, which starts on Thursday, Kohli was asked what the reasons for the better relations were, and his answer summed up the evolution of the rivalry: these teams play a lot of IPL together and thus they know each other better. All the characters of this narrative are also older, wiser and surer about their place in the world.
Since the Cape Town incident, Australia have acknowledged they were wanting when it came to their behaviour and so have strived to find the right balance between competitiveness and model behaviour. That said, this has been a year where people have reviewed their priorities in life and realised how unwanted certain things had been.
“It is a combination of all those factors,” Kohli said. “I think this year also has made people realise that a lot of things might not have been necessary in the past where you hold grudges and you have unnecessary tension between teams and individuals, which is absolutely pointless. You are still going to be professional and make sure you are positive and aggressive in your body language and the way you go about things on the field.
“But I don’t think that things are going to be as personal as they used to be before also because of the fact that we understand that we are contributing to a larger cause. And it is the quality of cricket that has to stand out. Obviously, you are going to try to get people out, you are going to try to score runs, but at the end of the day the unnecessary stuff is going to get filtered out pretty much by itself.”
Australia’s assertions of trying to be better behaved have not always been taken on face value, but Kohli did acknowledge they had changed “to an extent”. “It could be a culmination of playing IPL together, a lot of IPL cricket, Australia changing their approach to an extent, and also just the way the things have panned out this year,” he said. “Everyone is just grateful for the opportunity to be back on the field. It is not like the games haven’t been as intense or as competitive, it is just the unnecessary stuff that has been filtered out. I feel there is much more respect between sides. You can see that on the field, and I hope the cricket continues to be competitive.
“We should not compromise on the quality of the cricket. Banter is going to go on here and there all the time. That is the highest level of cricket we play, and it is going to be very competitive. There is going to be tension, there is going to be stress, there are going to be emotions flaring every now and then. I don’t foresee anything getting personal anymore. I think we are also – all of us – getting smarter, and [are] a few more years into our careers. So we are going to make better and smarter choices, and make sure the quality of cricket remains.”
The dichotomy in all this is that Kohli is well regarded in Australia because he gives back as good as he gets; in the words of Greg Chappell, that makes him the most Australian non-Australian. Kohli was asked if the players felt vilified doing what they are at certain times, which is to give it their all within the rules to win the match for their sides.
“The media has absolute full right and space to see things and perceive things as and how they want,” Kohli said. “For us, as cricketers, we understand that we do what is required for the team in that moment. To make sure that we are moving forward as a side – whether it is standing up to some chirp on the field or just being aggressive in our plans or our body language as a side.
“At the highest level, the quality of cricket cannot be compromised. If you are stepping onto the field thinking we will have smiles and handshakes throughout the day – and you know, we are not going to be as competitive or as aggressive in our body language – then I think it is the wrong idea to have. You have to maintain the dignity of the sport, but you also have to understand that you are competing at the highest level with two quality sides going at each other.
“And there are going to be moments when things are going to get difficult and teams are going to stand up against each other but not in a disrespectful way is what I meant. There is definitely a lot more to Test cricket. Appreciation for someone’s performance or someone’s grit and character comes at the end of five days is what I believe.
“And through the five days, obviously the crowds are going to try to make things as difficult as possible for us. We are going to try to make things as difficult as possible for the opposition, and that’s the beauty of Test cricket. You can appreciate the efforts put in by both teams at the end of five days and make sure you don’t carry anything off the field is what I meant.
“But on the field, things are going to be competitive, it is going to be high-voltage cricket because there are quality players in both sides hungry and eager to perform for their teams and make sure they help their team win. It is definitely going to be as competitive as it has always been over so many years between India and Australia.”
In other words, hard but fair. How much more Australian can Kohli get?
Tom Moody and Aakash Chopra preview the first Test in Adelaide (11:31)
Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin and Prithvi Shaw have been named to represent India in the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav will be the third seamer. These were the main questions India were contemplating two days before the Test: whether to continue backing the flamboyant Shaw, whether to play a spinner and persist with the safer option of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers to play. On the eve of the day-night Test, they settled all the confusion by naming the XI.
Shaw had come under pressure with Shubman Gill faring better in the two tour games, in the process impressing the likes of Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, the legends after whom the series is named. However, Shaw was the incumbent opener and showed in one innings out of four in New Zealand that he can be destructive. He scored 0, 19, 40 and 3 in the two tour games, but more than the scores it was his loose shots that worried Gavaskar and Border. It is understood, though, that with a settled middle order in place, India wanted continuity at the top too and went with the incumbent.
Similarly, the incumbent Test spinner – especially with Ravindra Jadeja’s absence due to injury and concussion – kept his place. The last time India chose against Ashwin in a series opener was on Australia’s tour of 2014-15, a move that was criticised for blooding in Karn Sharma, whose lack of experience showed on a pitch where Australia’s spinner Nathan Lyon proved to be the gamechanger.
Reasonable as it is to play Ashwin, this time around, there could have been a case made for not playing a spinner at all in the series opener because in day-night Tests in Australia, spinners have averaged 49 despite Lyon’s superlative average of 25 in these matches. Lyon’s success is perhaps a sign that world-class spinners have a chance to correct these statistics based on a small sample size of seven Tests. There is no doubt that Ashwin and Lyon have been the two premier spinners in Test cricket, followed only slightly behind by Jadeja, over this decade.
In the case of the wicketkeeper, however, India dropped the incumbent Pant, who has been preferred to Saha in Tests outside Asia where most of the wicketkeeping is done standing back. It is in India that the team management believes Saha’s superior wicketkeeping skills come into play when standing up to the spinners. The team management seems to have decided that the pink ball does a lot and will require a more established pure wicketkeeper. And Pant’s century in the SCG warm-up notwithstanding, he did have an ordinary New Zealand tour, scoring 60 runs in four innings. He is yet to play for India in any international cricket since then.
Yadav was the frontrunner to be India’s third seamer, replacing the injured Ishant Sharma. Not only does he have Test experience – this is his fourth Australia tour – he also impressed in the only warm-up game he played, taking 3 for 48 and 1 for 14 and also scoring handy runs down the order.
India XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
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EDITOR’S PICKS
India name Prithvi Shaw, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav in XI for first Test
4ySidharth Monga
Virat Kohli: My ‘personality’ is a ‘representation’ of ‘new India’
4ySidharth Monga
Shubman Gill: India have ‘plenty of moves’ for Australia’s chin music
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EDITOR’S PICKS
How should India bowl to Steven Smith?
4yAakash Chopra
For Virat Kohli, it will be about ‘high-voltage cricket’ but no ‘unnecessary tension’
4ySidharth Monga
Top order troubles for both sides as Australia aim to continue pink-ball dominance
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Shami vs Connolly: A different kind of six and out
AUS
IND
Australia chose to bat.
SL-W
NZ-W
No result
GG-W
UPW-W
GG Women won by 81 runs
ENG-M
SA-M
SA Masters won by 7 wickets (with 11 balls remaining)
The Australian opener played nine balls and missed six in a row before edging behind for a duck
Cooper Connolly nicks one behind after missing six in a row from Mohammed Shami • Associated Press
Cooper Connolly, 21, was playing the Champions Trophy semi-final against India in Dubai because of the injury to regular opener Matthew Short. Opening the innings with Travis Head, he faced nine balls from Mohammed Shami, making contact with only two of his first eight balls before edging behind for a duck. Here’s how the third over of the game played out:
2.1 Shami to Connolly: wide outside off, Connolly drives over the top of it…142kph
2.2 Shami to Connolly: plays and misses again! Connolly looking to drive, beaten on the inside edge this time as it angles back
2.3 Shami to Connolly: 1 wide 140kph, short and wide, Connolly slashes and misses with a square cut but gets the wide call
2.3 Shami to Connolly: four in a row! Connolly struggling. This one was nicely bowled, fuller outside off, feet not going anywhere as he pokes at it
2.4 Shami to Connolly: make that five! Aims for a square drive on the up, slides past the edge
2.5 Shami to Connolly: beaten again, six out of six…drives over the top of it as he targets square through the off side
2.6 Shami to Connolly: OUT has he edged it this time?! India are very convinced. Wide outside off, Connolly playing a square drive, was it an under edge? Yes, it’s taken the toe end. They are just checking the ball has carried to KL Rahul. It’s clean
Australia had chosen to bat after winning the toss in the first semi-final against India. They made two changes to their XI, bringing in Connolly and legspinner Tanveer Sangha for Short and fast bowler Spencer Johnson. India named the same XI that won their last group game against New Zealand, fielding a four-spinner attack.
Stats highlights from the first Champions Trophy semi-final between Australia and India in Dubai
When will India’s bad luck at the toss end? • ICC/Getty Images
0.00006103515 The probability of losing 14 consecutive tosses, which India have done in ODIs by losing the toss in the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia. Their current streak of lost tosses began at the 2023 ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad, where they lost the toss against Australia.
Rohit Sharma was captain in 11 of those 14 matches, one behind Brian Lara’s record for consecutive tosses lost as captain in men’s ODIs (12).
5 Fifty-plus scores in knockout matches for Steven Smith at the ICC ODI events (World Cup and Champions Trophy), behind only Sachin Tendulkar (6).
1 Varun Chakravarthy is the first spinner to dismiss Travis Head in the first ten overs of an ODI innings. Head scored 135 runs off 115 balls against spin in the first ten overs in ODIs without being dismissed before falling to Varun. This dismissal came off the first ball Varun had bowled to Head in any format.
1 Runs Head scored off his first eleven balls, the fewest he has at that point in an ODI innings. However, he scored 38 runs in his next 22 balls until his dismissal.
160 Catches for Virat Kohli in ODIs – joint-second most as a fielder, equalling Ricky Ponting and only behind Mahela Jayawardene’s 218.
4 Dismissals for Marnus Labuschagne against Ravindra Jadeja in ODIs. Haris Rauf (4) is the only other bowler to dismiss Marnus as often as Jadeja in this format. Marnus scored 120 runs against Jadeja across ten innings while striking at 66.67.
9 Balls faced by Cooper Connolly before falling for a duck, all off Mohammed Shami. Connolly had played and missed six straight balls before edging one to KL Rahul.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo
India’s astonishing bad luck at the toss; Varun gets Head first ball
Shubman Gill pulled up by umpire after taking Travis Head’s catch in Champions Trophy; Atherton, Hayden disagree
When Shubman Gill ran in from long on to take the catch, countless Indian fans across the globe held their breath. It was no ordinary catch. It was no ordinary match. It was Travis Head, a well-set and high-flying one in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final. The Australia opener has hurt too many times in recent years, and he was threatening to do a rerun of sorts when Varun Chakaravarthy pulled the plugs, foxing the left-hander into a false shot.
The ball hung in the air for ages, or so it seemed. Gill, wearing a floppy hat, gobbled up like it was his favourite breakfast, much to the delight of the Indian fans. Head, who got off to his slowest start, scoring just 1 run in 10 balls, was walking back after scoring 39 off 33 balls. Head, who hit five fours and two sixes, was dismissed in the powerplay by a spinner for the first time in his ODI career.
Moments after Head’s dismissal, umpire Richard Illingworth was seen having a word with Gill. Commentators Harsha Bhogle, Michael Atherton and Matthew Hayden indicated that it must have had something to do with Gill’s catch. The India vice-captain released the ball quickly as soon as he held onto it. According to the laws of the game, the fielder has to be in complete control of the ball in order for it to be considered a complete catch.
Atherton said Gill was in complete control, and there should be no doubt about the legitimacy of the catch. Hayden agreed and said that Gill held on to the ball for nearly three seconds. The former Australia opener, however, added that it was good on the umpire’s part to warn Gill just to make sure he is aware of the time frame he needs to keep the ball in hand before throwing it up in the air for celebration.
Atherton and Hayden then discussed Steve Waugh’s famous Herschelle Gibbs drop catch in the 1999 ODI World Cup.
Bhogle praised Gill for taking the umpire’s word of caution in his stride and nodding before walking away.
India got two wickets in the first 10 overs after Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat on a Dubai pitch that is expected to get slower as the match progresses. Mohammed Shami dismissed young opening batter Cooper Connolly in the third over of the match. Head fell in the 9th over.
Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne then put on an impressive partnership of 56 runs but just when Australia threatened to take the game away from India, Ravindra Jadeja trapped Labuschagne LBW for 29.
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