Team India playing all its Champions Trophy 2025 matches in Dubai has resulted in some strong reactions from Australia and England as former captains and renowned journalists have question the ‘undeniable’ advantage it gives to the Men in Blue. Journalists also slammed ICC and BCCI for allowing India to play all their matches at one venue.
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The voices of discontent and dissent have started to rise against Jay Shah-led ICC and BCCI with the Indian cricket team
playing all its Champions Trophy 2025 matches in Dubai. All other teams, meanwhile, are required to play their group-stage matches in at least two different stadiums.
Among those who have questioned India’s advantage are former England captains Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and renowned journalists.
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Unlike other teams who are in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025, India are playing all their matches in Dubai as they refused to visit their neighbours due to security issues. The Men in Blue will also play their semi-final and final in Dubai if they qualify.
Atherton says India have advantage over other teams
Former England skipper Atherton said India have been handed an “undeniable advantage” with permission to play all their matches in Dubai. “What about the advantage India have in playing in Dubai, only in Dubai? Which seems to me to be a hard-to-quantify advantage, but an undeniable advantage,” Atherton said on Sky Sports Podcast.
“They’re playing at just one venue. They don’t have to travel either between venues or, you know, between countries, as a lot of other teams have to do.
“Therefore, the selection, you know, can focus in on the conditions in Dubai. And obviously, they’ll know where they’re playing their semi-final as and when they get through to that. That seems to me to be an undeniable advantage, but, you know, kind of hard to quantify how big an advantage,” he said.
Hussain says India don’t have to bother about team combinations
Hussain said India don’t have to worry about team combinations like other teams and they have been smart by picking five spinners in the squad.
“It is an advantage. So, the best team in the tournament have that advantage. And I saw a tweet the other day saying ‘Pakistan host nation, India home advantage.’ It sums it up really,” Hussain said.
“They are at one place, one hotel, they don’t have to travel. They have one dressing room. They know the pitch, they have picked for that pitch.
“They were very smart in their selection. They probably knew what Dubai is going to be like. They picked all their spinners. there was a bit of debate with Indian media saying why don’t you have gone for an extra seamer? Why all these spinners? Now we can seen why.
“For example the other sides like England if they do get to the semis they have only one spinner (Rehan Ahmed is added as replacement of Brydon Carse), Pakistan have one frontline spinner. You can says that when the injuries came they should have change that and I have made that argument.
“Other teams will have to pick playing XIs for different conditions in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi and then they have to travel and adjust to those conditions.
Hussain also added that the importance of an India vs Pakistan match to global cricket forced the world body ICC to settle for such an arrangement.
“So it is an advantage but what else could have happened. Once India refused to come to Pakistan, what could have happen. You can’t have a tournament like this without India-Pakistan. It had to be in Dubai.
“They sit happily and comfortably there. They know they are going to play six games there and if they will win all those, they will win another global tournament,” he added.
‘Champions Trophy 2025 is a farce’
Jonathan Agnew, renowned English cricket journalist, had a very strong response as he feels India playing all its matches in Dubai has reduced Champions Trophy 2025 into a “farce”.
“I feel very uncomfortable about the way that India is being treated at the moment,” Agnew told ABC Sport. “This is wrong; if you’re going to play international tournaments, you can’t pick and choose where you play and where you’re not going to play.
“I don’t see how long this can carry on for? It makes a farce of these tournaments.”
Australia’s popular cricket journalist Gideon Haigh said the Champions Trophy schedule is just an example of how powerful BCCI is in world cricket.
“It’s the ‘where does an 800-pound gorilla sit? The answer is any where it likes’,” he said.
“And that’s the case with India where they can pretty much dictate the terms.
“So India are playing all their games in Dubai for confusing reasons. The BCCI is saying the government are saying you can’t go to play cricket in Pakistan. But the government is saying the BCCI has cited security concerns about India going. So no one can quite get their story straight. And of course no one has to because India does what it like.”