Steve Smith explains why Australia fell short against India in semifinal
IND vs AUS Champions Trophy 2025: Australia came into the ICC Champions Trophy without some serious starpower, especially in their bowling unit. World Cup-winnning captain Pat Cummins and frontline bowlers Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood were absent. But it wasn’t the bowling that Smith felt was the difference between India and Australia in Dubai on Tuesday. Chasing 265, India were made to work hard on a tricky batting surface but they eventually got home with 11 balls and four wickets to spare. Speaking after the match, Smith felt Australia were a few runs short after opting to bat first. “It wasn’t the easiest batting condition, probably why the scores were as they were. I thought we could have put a few more runs on. We lost a couple of wickets at crucial times. If we got 280 plus, things could have been different,” Smith said in the post-match chat, adding that the lack of sufficient partnerships hurt the world champions. “It always felt like we were one wicket too many down at each stage of …









