With Matthew Short sidelined due to injury ahead of Australia's Champions Trophy semi-final clash, the team management made a bold decision to bring in Cooper Connolly as the opener alongside Travis Head, as per the official website of ICC. While Connolly was dismissed early on from Mohammed Shami, the 21-year-old went on to snap the all-important wicket of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in a tense semi-final chase.
Sharing his experience of the high-octane outing in the midst of the Sheffield Shield season, Connolly told reporters, "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," as quoted from the official website of ICC.
Connolly was set up by Mohammed Shami in the power play as the veteran quickly got rid of the left-hander with a gorgeous out-swinging delivery.
"Shami is a world-class player for a reason. He's played a lot of cricket," Connolly said.
"In the end, it was a great game of cricket and I think we took a lot of learnings as a group from that," he added.
As India embarked on their chase of 265, Connolly came close to sending Rohit Sharma back in the hut in the second over but couldn't hold onto his catch.
"It's the game of cricket. You're going to miss out, you're going to drop a catch - you've got to get on with what's in front of you," he said.
"That (drop off Rohit) was completely out of my mind by the time I was bowling, I was just trying to compete as much as I could and hopefully get a breakthrough for the team," said Connolly who eventually went on to dismiss Rohit Sharma for his first ODI wicket.
Before heading into the Champions Trophy, Connolly also made his Test debut for Australia
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