Published: Mar 04, 2025, 02:18 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 04, 2025, 02:27 PM (IST)
Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik has stated that the biggest hurdle for India in the Champions Trophy semifinal clash is Travis Head. Travis has been a curse to the Indian team and taken away the titles of ODI World Cup 2023 and ICC World Test Championship from the team’s hands. He also slammed India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and led Australia to their first series win over India in more than a decade.
Karthik said India had always had the better in knockout games. He stated that if there is any team that can challenge India most of the days, it is Australia. Dinesh even went on even call Travis as “Travis Headache“.
“It used to be New Zealand for a wee bit. In these knockout games, they always had the better of India, but you have to say it’s Australia at this point of time. If at all, there is a team that they would think that on most days they’ll challenge India has to be Australia. And it’s actually what Ravi Shastri said, you know, at this point of time, the mental block is more one player than Australia itself, Travis Headache,” said Karthik.
“He has actually, in any format. And they will be looking for that wicket because that wicket early will actually make them breathe a lot easier for the rest of the game, because World Test Championship Final, the recently concluded Australia Series, World Cup Final, you take any big game, he’s actually scored once. And he’s been the difference between winning and losing,” he added.
“Definitely, it’s not the end of the game, but I think they’ll breathe a lot easier because till the time he’s around, especially the tempo that he’s batting, because they’ve tried tactically various fields, various lines, he just finds a way to get that boundary,” said Karthik.
As of now India is up against Australia for the semifinal of the tournament. Australia have won the toss and are going to bat first. The match has not begin by the time this copy is being written. India is going to play with the same spin attack that they used against New Zealand in their previous clash.
