Champions trophy sf

Champions Trophy SF: Ahead of marking his return for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, young Australia all-rounder Cooper Connolly said he realised why Mohammed Shami is a world-class pacer when he was dismissed by him in the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai.

Connolly was slotted into the team as an opener in place of injured Matt Short, as he was worked over by Shami’s mastery and eventually nicked off him for a nine-ball duck. In the bowling innings, after dropping Rohit Sharma at backward point, Connolly redeemed himself when he trapped the Indian skipper lbw and got his maiden wicket in international cricket.

“As a kid, you always want to represent your country, and to walk out there in a semi-final was an unbelievable experience, and I'll take a lot of learnings from it. Shami is a world class player for a reason. He's played a lot of cricket.