March 5, 2025 - India beat Australia in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 yesterday to march into the finals scheduled for March 9, 2025. It will play the winner of the second semi-finals to be played today between South Africa and New Zealand.

The Men in Blue reaching the finals of this tournament is particularly special for captain Rohit Sharma who has created a world record by becoming the only captain in the history of the game to take his team to the finals of all ICC tournaments. By doing so he has shattered the earlier record of MS Dhoni who, however, had captained his way into the finals of three ICC championships - T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup and the Champions Trophy in 2007, 2011 and 2013, respectively. The World Test Championship would not have been possible for Dhoni because he had retired when India reached the WTC finals in 2021 (under Virat Kohli).

Skipper Sharma took India into the WTC finals in 2023; the ODI World Cup finals in 2023 again; then the T20 World Cup finals in 2024 and finally, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025.

With Media Inputs