Former cricketer Ravi Shastri opined that India must not tinker with their winning combination before the Champions Trophy semifinal against Australia on Tuesday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri feels the Rohit Sharma-led team must play an unchanged starting XI in their crucial semifinal match against Australia in Dubai since they had faced the conditions in their 44-run victory over New Zealand.

India have arranged a semifinal with Australia on Tuesday after defeating New Zealand by 44 runs in the last Group A game of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Stadium. Tuesday's semifinal will be India's inaugural encounter with Australia in an ICC 50-over knockout match following the 2023 ODI World Cup final, which Rohit & Co. lost in Ahmedabad.

"I would like to play with the same 11 players today because the turnaround time is under 48 hours. The ground is a bit fatigued at the moment; individuals have been running on the ground that will be utilized the following day, so the spinners will become relevant again," Shastri said in an ICC video uploaded on Instagram.

Against New Zealand on the slow Dubai pitch in Sunday's game, India played four spinners: Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy. The four overs took nine wickets, with Chakaravarthy being the best bowler with 5-42 from ten overs, which is now the best figure in the ongoing eight-team tournament.

Shastri was equally impressed with India for releasing Chakaravarthy at the appropriate moment in the match. "If you watch his current form, and I always have faith in current form - that's the thing, and if you look at his body language, his confidence and his ability, and if you look at the opposition such as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa who are still in the competition, not many teams have played too much of him or seen enough of him."

"I'm highly impressed with him and full credit to the think tank and the management of the team for making the correct decision because he's a bowler who will provide you wickets in the middle overs. It's the right time to release him. They included him in the team; he took five wickets and I believe he's here to stay."

Shastri also felt that a total score of around 240-250 when batting first in Dubai in Today's semifinal will be a challenge. "So if you bat first and get anything above 240-250, it will be very closely contested in a big game like a semifinal," he concluded.