Australian cricketer Cooper Connolly got his first taste of action on the big stage when he played in the 2025 Champions Trophy. The youngster came into the team after Matthew Short had injured himself in the group match versus Afghanistan. Connolly made his way into the XI for the first-semi-final match against India in Dubai. Advertisment Connolly was out for a duck to Mohammed Shami in the semi-finals after being caught behind by KL Rahul. During his chat with ICC, the young Aussie star said about the Indian pacer, “Shami is a world class player for a reason. He"s played lots of cricket. In the end, it was a great game of cricket and I think we took a lot of learnings as a group from that”. The 34-year-old was the second highest wicket taker in the tournament behind Matt Henry. In the semi-finals Connolly got the key wicket of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for 28 runs. The youngster had earlier dropped Rohit before making amends with the ball as he had Rohit LBW while India"s skipper attempted a sweep shot. Once the decision went in his favor, Connolly let out a huge roar of delight. Speaking about the dropped chance, Connolly said “It's the game of cricket. You're going to miss out, you're going to drop a catch – you've got to get on with what's in front of you. That drop off Rohit was completely out of my mind by the time I was bowling, I was just trying to compete as much as I could and hopefully get a breakthrough for the team,” "Hopefully there"s more to come" – Cooper Connolly looking ahead to his future Young Cooper Connolly had also made his Test debut recently in the tour of Sri Lanka where he played the second Test match. Connolly didn"t manage to pick any wickets from his overs of spin bowling and scored just four runs with the bat. The 21-year-old has also made his international debut for Australia in the ODI and T20I format. During his chat with ICC, young Connolly said “As a kid, you always want to represent your country, and to walk out there in a semi-final was an unbelievable experience, and I'll take a lot of learnings from it. Getting my Baggy Green and then to play a game in the Champions Trophy, it was a dream come true. hopefully there's plenty more to come. I felt like it wasn't really a surprise. I felt like if I was going to play, I'd earned my opportunity.” “I guess it's just about concentrating on what's in front of me at the moment, not looking too far ahead, and just trying to enjoy playing cricket and hopefully put some scores on the board. Hopefully work on my bowling a bit and get an opportunity again. Obviously getting a little taste of it makes you want it more,” Cooper Connolly also added during his chat with Cricket"s Apex Body.