IND vs AUS: Suresh Raina on Australia threat in Champions Trophy semi-final: ’Thappad se dar nahi lagta…’

The blockbuster clash between India and Australia is set to take place in Dubai for the semi-finals of the ongoing Champions Trohy 2025. The two teams have a rich history of playing against each other with the rivalry only heating up after Aussies defeated India during the 2023 ODI World Cup and the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina expressed the sentiments of many Indian fans during a recent interaction when he talked about the fear of Men in Yellow in ICC knockout matches.

Speaking to Aaj Tak, Raina said, “Thappad se dar nahi lagta, yellow se dar lagta hai jab aap ICC trophy khel rahe ho to. But i feel ki humari team strong hai usme Varun Chakravarthy hai, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja hai lekin turup ka ikka saabit hoga Kuldeep Yadav. Aur bada player hoga Virat kohli and Rohit Sharma aur iyer sahab (Shreyas Iyer) achi batting kr rahe hai. (I’m not afraid of a slap, but I am afraid of yellow when playing an ICC trophy. But I feel our team is strong—it has Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja. However, the trump card will be Kuldeep Yadav. The big players will be Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and Mr. Iyer (Shreyas Iyer) is batting well.)”

Notably, on the back of fantastic century by Travis Head, Australia had defeated India by 6 wickets during the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Similarly, the Aussies had recently also knocked India out of the race for World Test Championship final after losing 4-1 to Australia at home.

Will there be changes in India’s playing XI for the Australia match?

India had brought in spinner Varun Chakravarthy in place of pacer Harshit Rana. The four spinner strategy worked well for India as Chakravarthy took 5 wickerts for 42 runs and broke the back of Kiwi batting lineup.

Raina stated that with Chakravarthy doing so well there is really no need to make any changes in the playing XI.