Fresh pitch in Dubai for India-Australia semi-final

When Rohit Sharma said "we don't know which pitch is going to be played" in the semi-final, he was spot on. It will be a journey into the unknown for his men as the track for the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy against Australia will be altogether a new one.

So far, three different pitches have been used for the three matches played here – India versus Bangladesh, India versus Pakistan, and India versus New Zealand. The wicket prepared for Tuesday's game, however, will be a new one that's not previously been used.

The wickets here are being prepared by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), under whose control the Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS), the venue, is, with the supervision of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The curator of the surface here is Matthew Sandery. The Australian is the curator for the pitches at both DICS and the ICC Academy.

A narrative is being built here that India have had an unfair advantage by playing at the same venue in the Champions Trophy. The India skipper responded to that saying, "This is not our home, this is Dubai. So, we don't play so many matches here. This is new for us too."

Rohit did not have a chance to see the wicket on Monday, the eve of the game, as the Indian team had an off day. Steve Smith, though, did have a look at the pitch on Monday. "Obviously the whole square block is pretty dry. Having spoken to the groundsman just now, a dry surface had a lot of traffic, so we've seen how the wickets have played," the Australia skipper said.

The DICS pitches have mostly been slow and dry with some assistance for the spinners and the semi-final wicket is unlikely to be too much different.