Rohit Sharma is focused on the Indian team and is confidently ‘looking forward to’ facing Australia in the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, despite the recent history of heartbreaking ICC tournament losses to them. India sealed a date with the Aussies with a big 44-run win over New Zealand on Sunday. It’s the repeat of the 2023 World Cup final where Pat Cummins and Co. ended India’s unbeaten run in a home tournament to take the title home. Earlier in the same year, they beat India in the World Test Championship final at the Oval, too. “It will be a good game, Australia has a rich history of playing well in ICC tournaments, but is is about us and what we want to do on that particular day,” Rohit said after the New Zealand clash. “It will be a great contest, looking forward to that. Hopefully we can stitch one towards us.” India have perhaps found the X-factor to turn the unfavorable results against Australia around: Varun Chakaravarthy. The spinner took five wickets against New Zealand, his Champions Trophy debut. He replaced Harshit Rana for the game and now India will have the big choice to make whether to switch it up again or stick with Chakaravarthy plus just one pacer in Mohammed Shami. “He has got something different about him, so wanted to try and see what he had to offer. We got to think a little about what to do for the next game, it’s a good headache. If he gets it right, it’s very difficult to read him,” Rohit said of Chakaravarthy at the presentation ceremony. He also said it was important to maintain the winning momentum in a short tournament like the Champions Trophy. “Critical to possibly win every game and doing everything right in a short tournament. Important to correct mistakes quickly, and that’s where we know if your team is going up or going down. Important to finish on a high. We played a perfect game. It was important at that stage (after being 30/3) to build a partnership, and I thought we got to a good total,” he said.