Australia knocked out as India takes revenge, world roasts Cooper Connolly

A staggering selection gamble has blown up in Australia’s face with a rising star suddenly left a laughing stock on the world stage.

The cricket world is brutally roasting rising star Cooper Connolly after Australia was knocked out of the Champions Trophy on Wednesday morning (AEDT).

The batting allrounder’s technique was badly exposed as Australia took the extraordinary gamble of parachuting him in to open the batting in the four-wicket loss to India in Dubai.

Virat Kohli produced a trademark innings with a polished 84 to get India home at 6/267 with 11 balls to spare.

You can watch highlights of the match in the video above

Australia will be ruing several big moments that slipped through their fingers, but the most headline-grabbing factor was the shock selection of Connolly, who hadn’t even been a member of Australia’s 15-man squad before Monday when he replaced the injured Matt Short.

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Aussie selectors made the gamble of overlooking dangerous slugger Jake Fraser-McGurk to open the batting alongside Travis Head, instead opting to roll the dice with Connolly.

The West Australian had never opened the batting in List A cricket previously. His top score in Australia’s One-Day Cup competition is just 42.

The 21-year-old had only batted twice previously in ODI cricket with scores of seven not-out and three.

The almighty gamble was a spectacular failure.

Connolly went for a duck from nine balls with commentators saying bluntly that he was out of his depth.

Indian destroyer Mohammed Shami mercifully put an end to Connolly’s struggles when he was caught behind by keeper KL Rahul.

Cooper had failed to get bat on ball for six consecutive deliveries facing Shami.

It was the longest duck scored by an Australian in the history of the Champions Trophy, according to CricTracker.

“His misery ends there,” former Indian coach Ravi Shastri said in commentary following Connolly’s dismissal.

“He was really struggling.”

Cooper Connolly's face after dropping the catch. Photo: Getty and X, @sbettingmarkets.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar noted after Australia’s innings that Connolly wasn’t able to handle the jump in class needed to go from domestic cricket to international cricket.

“That’s what happens when you come into this level,” Gavaskar said.

“He’s done well in domestic level, but when you come to the international level, suddenly you’ll find (the standard) is much higher, and the bowling is more accurate, more lethal.”

Nic Savage of foxsports.com.au called Connolly’s batting an “amateurish passage of play”.

Cricket fans around the world were much more scathing.

Aussie fast-bowling great Damien Fleming posted on X that Shami had “ended Connolly’s torture”.

Sporting website Sportskeeda called it a “game to forget “ for Connolly.

One cricket fan on X, Jason Reads, posted a message that said Connolly “genuinely sucks”.

“Don’t think I’ve seen a bigger fraud than Cooper Connolly,” he posted on X.

Another cricket spectator posted: “That 9 balls which Cooper Connolly played there is easily the worst I’ve ever seen”.

Selectors were clearly swayed to pick Connolly because of the talented allround’s left-arm spin option — but he bowled just eight overs, finishing with 1/37.

His overs meant first-line spinner Tanveer Sangha and allrounder Glenn Maxwell bowled just six overs each.

Connolly has been popular with selectors for some time. There was plenty of head-scratching when Connolly was selected to make his Test debut in the second Test against Sri Lanka in February. His contributions were just four runs (from one innings) and bowling figures of 0/21.

There was redemption of sorts when Connolly snared the key wicket of Rohit Sharma — but the dismissal came after Connolly had earlier put down a catch attempt to remove the Indian captain cheaply.

Cooper Connolly dropped he catch. Photo: X.

Australian players saved their biggest wicket celebration for when Connolly struck in the eighth over, but the sole dismissal has not convinced many that selectors went with the right option.

India were deserved winners, but Australia will never know if they could have set a bigger total for their opposition to chase if Fraser-McGurk was selected at the top.

Set 265 for victory, India lost Kohli, 36, in the closing overs but KL Rahul’s unbeaten 42 steered the team home with 11 balls to spare at the Dubai International Stadium.

They will face South Africa or New Zealand in the final on Sunday in Dubai, with India playing all their matches at the venue after they refused to tour hosts Pakistan for the eight-nation event.

Lahore was the alternative venue for the final had India missed out. “This game is all about pressure, especially in big games like semis and finals,” said player of the match Kohli.

“If you go deep into the innings and have wickets in hand, the opposition usually gives in and the game becomes easier. It is very important to control your impulses while the game is going on.”

Australia elected to bat and posted 264 all out after strong knocks from captain Steve Smith, who made 73, and Alex Carey, who hit 61.

In reply India lost two early wickets before Kohli and Shreyas Iyer, who made 45, put the chase back on track in their partnership of 91.

Virat Kohli of India salutes the crowd. Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images.

“I take pride in doing what my team wants,” added the 36-year-old Kohli. “Those things (individual records) don’t matter anymore for me. It’s just about stepping out and hopefully doing the job for the team.”

Smith said of Kohli: “He’s arguably the best chaser the game has seen. He’s done it numerous times against us.

“He controls the tempo of the game really well, plays to his strengths and takes the game deep.”

Kohli and Iyer took stock against an inexperienced Australian attack missing fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood to injuries and Mitchell Starc for personal reasons.

But leg-spinner Adam Zampa bowled Iyer before Nathan Ellis rattled the stumps of Axar Patel for 27.

Kohli, who hit an unbeaten 100 in India’s group-stage win over arch-rivals Pakistan, stood firm in another stand with Rahul.

Kohli was dropped by Glenn Maxwell off Connolly on 51 but Zampa denied him another ton when he clubbed a googly to Ben Dwarshuis at long-on to leave India at 225-5 and give Australia a glimmer of hope.

Australia's players gather. Photo by Ryan Lim / AFP.

But Rahul kept calm and with Hardik Pandya, who hit three sixes in his 28, put on 34 off 31 balls to ease the pressure.

Ellis removed Pandya, via another catch at long-on, but Rahul hit the winning six as a largely Indian crowd roared in delight.

“I thought the bowlers did a really good job,” said Smith. “They worked hard throughout, the spinners squeezed and enabled us take the game a bit deeper than potentially could have done.”

Earlier, Australia lost regular wickets but kept fighting back with 50-plus stands between Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, who made 29, and then the captain and Carey.

India’s pace spearhead Mohammed Shami stood out with figures of 3-48 as Australia’s innings lasted 49.3 overs.

Spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each. Opener Travis Head gave the team a quick start with his 39 after losing his partner Connolly for a nine-ball duck.

India calmly knocked off the runs though, gaining a measure of revenge against Australia for their 2023 World Cup final defeat in Ahmedabad. Revenge was sweet for India, having waited 18 months for this moment.

The second semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand is on Wednesday night (AEDT) in Lahore.

Originally published as Australia knocked out as India takes revenge, world roasts Cooper Connolly