India rode a disciplined bowling performance from Mohammed Shami & Co to overcome a calculative half century from Steve Smith that led Australia’s recovery before Alex Carey provided the much-needed late order flourish to propel the side to 264 in the first semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Tuesday.

Captaining the side, Smith led from the front with a carefully curated 73 off 96 deliveries to set the tone for the Aussies before Carey produced a 57-ball 61 to help the Kangaroos get to the par total against the Indian bowlers, who consistently kept picking wickets to apply the brakes on the scoring on a sluggish Dubai wicket.

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Moments after Rohit Sharma lost his 14th toss in a row, and Smith elected to bat, India drew first blood in the third over of the match, with Shami dismissing rookie opener Cooper Connolly for a duck, making up for dropping Travis Head on the first ball of the match.

Head, who has been India’s chief tormentor in recent times, more specially in crucial ICC tournaments, including the 2023 World Cup final with his century denying India the title at home, took full advantage of the reprieve and was beginning to look dangerous for India, having smashed five boundaries and two sixes, before Rohit Sharma turned to Varun Chakravarthy to end the flourishing 50-run second wicket stand between the southpaw and Smith.

Chakaravarthy, in his first over, responded to the faith shown in him by his skipper, sending back the dangerous Head for 39. Following his departure, Smith survived a very eventful over from Axar Patel, escaping a run-out and then breathing a sigh of relief when the bails didn’t dislodge despite the ball hitting the stumps. India clawed their way back into this contest, piling up the dot balls as pressure was beginning to now show on Smith and new man Marnus Labuschagne.

Smith, meanwhile, survived two more chances, and in the process added 56 runs for the third wicket with Labuschagne, and went on to bring up the team’s 100 with a six off Axar Patel. With India desperately needing a breakthrough, Ravindra Jadeja provided the relief by trapping Labuschagne to end an enterprising innings of 29 after consuming 36 balls.

Jadeja struck twice in quick succession with the wicket of Josh Inglis. Inglis endured a soft dismissal, lobbing a simple catch to Virat Kohli at cover. With Australia in a spot of bother after losing their fourth wicket for 144 runs, Smith forged a 55-run stand for the fifth wicket with Carey to restore parity, and inch closer to a well-deserved century. However, as the partnership looked threatening, India skipper turned to his strike bowler Shami to pull things back for the side.

The Australia captain, inching towards the three-figure-mark, was sent back 27 short of it by Shami with a peach of a delivery to turn the tide in India’s favour, before Axar Patel did an encore to get rid of the dangerous Glenn Maxwell, who deposited the left-arm spinner over deep square leg for a massive six, in the previous delivery.

With both Smith and Maxwell back in the hut, India still had a job — to contain Carey, who looked in brilliant touch. Shreyas Iyer produced a brilliant piece of fielding, nailing a direct hit from the deep to run Carey out after the wicketkeeper batter slammed eight fours and a six during his 57-ball knock.

A little earlier, Varun Chakaravarthy bagged his second wicket and the seventh of the Australian innings with the scalp of Ben Dwarshuis before Shami and Hardik Pandya cleaned up the tail to bowl Australia out for 264 in 49.3 overs.