Dinesh Karthik reveals the biggest Headache from Australia for Rohit Sharma ahead of Champions Trophy semi-final

Former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik has predicted one Australian player who can make the difference between a win and a loss during the first semi-final of Champions Trophy 2025 between the two sides.

Dinesh Karthik feels Travis Head is the player whose wicket will be the key for India and the Men in Blue will want to get rid of him soon. He also labelled him as the difference between winning and losing the game.

Travis Head has a superb record in ICC tournaments, especially against India, as he has played some vital knocks in crunch games. The left-hander remains to be in excellent batting form and will be a big threat for India.

Also read: "Pack your bags and leave India"- Yograj Singh enters Rohit Sharma fat-shaming controversy

Dinesh Karthik feels Travis Head can make the difference

While speaking during a Sky Sports podcast, Dinesh Karthik named Australia as the team who are bound to challenge India. He also named Travis Head as the biggest mental block for India ahead of the semi-final.

“If at all, there is a team that they would think that on most days they’ll challenge India, has to be Australia. And it’s actually what Ravi Shastri said, you know, at this point of time, the mental block is more one player than Australia itself, Travis Headache.

Dinesh Karthik further recalled Travis Head's achievements in the big games against India. He feels that India will be going hard at the batter in the initial stages to get his wicket as soon as possible.

“He has actually, in any format. And they will be looking for that wicket because that wicket early will actually make them breathe a lot easier for the rest of the game, because World Test Championship Final, the recently concluded Australia Series, World Cup Final, you take any big game, he’s actually scored once. And he’s been the difference between winning and losing,” Karthik noted.

Dinesh Karthik reveals the plan to Travis Head

Dinesh Karthik also revealed India's plan to Travis Head and claimed that the Men in Blue are likely to play with four spinners again given the success of Varun Chakravarthy in the last match. He believes that the mystery spinner will be a big threat to Australia.

“I have a feeling they will end up playing four spinners, especially with the way Varun (Chakravarthy) bowled and this pitch, more than anything else, it makes sense to play Varun and he is, again, a wicket-taking opportunity against a lot of the Australians,” Karthik reckoned.

“People who have played him in IPL will know him a little better, but the guys who are playing him for the first time, he is a challenge without a doubt because he turns the ball both ways and hits a very consistent length as well," the former India wicketkeeper added.

Travis Head's outstanding record against India

Travis Head has had some high amounts of success in the last few ICC tournaments, especially against India. The left-hander scored a match-winning knock of 163 off 174 balls against India in the World Test Championship Final 2023 and helped Australia win the title.

A few months later, Head smashed 137 off 120 balls in the ODI World Cup 2023 final against India to take Australia to another title win. In the T20 World Cup 2024, Head registered another magnificent knock of 76 off 43 balls against India, however, was unable to take his team past the finish line this time.

In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy concluded earlier this year, Travis Head emerged as the highest run-scorer of the series with 448 runs in 5 matches at an average of 56 with 2 hundreds and 1 fifty.