India vs Australia: Spin decisions, Head v Shami and the Shreyas factor

Dubai has offered something for both spin and seam in the PowerPlay across four venues in the Champions Trophy (CT) 2025. Seamers have dominated the afternoons, while spinners have found more purchase in the night. India will have to decide between a fourth spinner or a second specialist seamer. Australia has one forced change, with Matthew Short being ruled out. They could bring in Cooper Connolly or Aaron Hardie, who can double up as a change seamer and add another specialist spinner.

Travis Head has been a thorn in the flesh for India, scoring rapidly in the PowerPlay and having a great head-to-head against the Indian spin trio in ODIs. However, he has a slight chink in his armour against right-arm seamers bowling from the round-the-stumps angle. Mohammed Shami, in particular, has an excellent record against left-handers from this angle.

Australia has struggled against spin in the recent past, losing 15 of the 20 wickets to spin in dry conditions against Sri Lanka. India has a high-quality spin attack, and Chakaravarthy, in particular, was tough to deal with against New Zealand due to his novelty factor and pace.

The sweep shot has been relatively risk-free against spin in the matches in Dubai, but playing it against Chakaravarthy will be challenging. Each of Australia's batters has a bugbear in India's attack, and how they navigate them in the middle overs will be critical.

Shreyas Iyer, considered the most important wicket for Australia, has an exceptional record against all kinds of spin and off-spin. He has started to employ sweeps recently, opening up new scoring avenues in the middle-overs. Australia doesn't have a bowler with the dual attributes of high pace and tall release who can trouble him with consistent short-pitched bowling.

Zampa has positive matchups against seven of India's top eight batters, with only Kohli managing to average above 40 against him. Axar Patel, India's left-handed spin basher, is one of the few Indian batters comfortable in sweeping against spin and is expected to bring out the 'broom' against Zampa to unsettle the bowler.