Dubai [UAE], March 4 (HBTV): Australia skipper Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bat first in the first semi-final of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy against India on Tuesday.

While India finished atop Group A, winning all three of their fixtures against Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand, Australia secured the second spot in Group B, behind South Africa.

The two teams are facing each other in a 50-over contest for the first time since the 2023 Men's Cricket World Cup final. While Rohit Sharma and his team finished second-best that night in Ahmedabad, India had the upper hand in their most recent ICC tournament clash, defeating Australia on their way to the Men's T20 World Cup title.

'We'll have a bat. Looks a pretty dry surface. The guys had a couple of sessions, ready to go. It should take turn. Very good side—India. Two changes: Cooper Connolly comes in for Short, Sangha comes in for Johnson,' Steve Smith said after winning the toss.

India skipper Rohit Sharma acknowledged the unpredictability of the Dubai pitch.

'I was prepared to do both. When you're confused, it's better to lose the toss. The pitch keeps changing its nature. You have to play good cricket. We've played good cricket in all three games, and that's what we'll try to do. It's going to be challenging. We are playing with the same team. We want to continue from where we left. Now that we are bowling first, we have to bowl well and restrict them as much as possible,' Rohit Sharma said.

Playing XIs:

Australia: Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

(ANI)