- Thursday, March 06, 2025
South Africa were forced to travel to Dubai not knowing where they would play their semi-final. Later they had to fly back to Pakistan after India defeated New Zealand
By: India Weekly
AFTER remaining unbeaten in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, India will now face New Zealand in the final on Sunday (9) in Dubai.
India have played all their matches at the same venue after they refused to tour nominal hosts Pakistan for the eight-nation event citing political tensions.
But the other seven teams in the ODI competition had to shuttle between three Pakistani cities and the United Arab Emirates.
This arrangement also underlined India’s outsized influence over cricket.
It has now sparked a debate with England’s former players Naseer Hussain and Mike Atherton observing that India has an ‘undeniable advantage’ by playing all their matches in Dubai.
The International Cricket Council, which has former BCCI secretary Jay Shah as its current chairman, has been criticised for letting India camp in Dubai.
While other teams shuttled between the four venues, India did not face any travel hassle and gained valuable insights into the conditions in Dubai having played all the group matches here.
India coach Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday (4) lashed out at critics of his team playing every game in Dubai.
India has played all its matches at the Dubai International Stadium, while other teams have had to travel between three Pakistani cities and Dubai.
South Africa were forced to travel to Dubai despite not knowing if they would even be playing their semi-final there, and then had to travel straight back to Pakistan after India’s win over New Zealand.
South Africa batsman David Miller said, “It’s only an hour and 40 minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that was not ideal.”
South Africa made what was ultimately a wasted trip soon after defeating England in Karachi on Saturday.
“It’s early morning, it’s after a game and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4:00 pm.
“And at 7.30 am we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice.
“It’s not like we flew five hours, and we had enough time to recover and recuperate, but it was not an ideal situation still.”
India also knew they would be playing the first semi-final before the tournament even started if they got that far, while other teams had to wait to see where India finished in their group.
India are unbeaten in the 10 ODIs they have played in Dubai, winning nine.
“First of all, this is as neutral a venue for us as it is for any other team,” an agitated Gambhir told reporters, insisting India had not enjoyed any advantage over other teams because they were not playing at home.
“We have not played here. I don’t remember which tournament we played in this stadium last. And in fact, we didn’t plan anything like that…
“The plan was that if you pick two front-line spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere, we would have picked two front-line spinners because it was a competition on the subcontinent.”
India won their last group match against New Zealand with four spinners and emerged victorious again with similar tactics.
No ‘spin trap’
“It was nothing like we wanted to set up a spinners’ trap,” Gambhir said, focusing on the pitch rather than the discrepancies in travel between teams and schedule concerns.
“If you look at it, we only played one front-line spinner in the first three matches. We only played two front-line spinners in this match or the previous match. So, it was nothing like that.
“And there’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven’t practised here even for a day. We’re practising at the ICC Academy.
“If you look at the wickets there and here, the difference is between the ground and the sky. Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man.
“They’ve got to grow up. So, I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage or we had planned something like that.”
Australia’s Alex Carey said, “I think it’s probably nice to stay at the same venue three times in a row. They (India) are a quality team and, no doubt, they would have played good cricket in Pakistan.”
“But I think just setting up run chases and probably knowing the tempo of the game, probably helps a little bit but Virat Kohli does a pretty good job in most venues around the world.”
Shami sees advantage
India pace spearhead Mohammed Shami has broken ranks by admitting that playing all their Champions Trophy games at one venue in Dubai has been to their advantage.
Shami returned figures of 3-48 to set up India’s four-wicket win over Australia in the semi-finals on Tuesday in Dubai.
“It definitely helped us because we know the conditions and the behaviour of the pitch,” Shami said Tuesday after his pivotal role in beating Australia.
“It is a plus point that you are playing all the matches at one venue.”
India are unbeaten in the 10 ODIs they have played in Dubai, winning nine.
Smith plays down concerns
However, Australian captain Steve Smith played down any concerns regarding India playing the single venue.
“Yeah, look, I’m not buying into it,” Smith said. “I think it is what it is. India obviously played some really good cricket here.
“The surface kind of suits their style with the spinners that they’ve got and the seamers that they have at their disposal for a wicket like that. They played well, they outplayed us and they deserve the victory.”
Smith top-scored with 73 and Alex Carey made 61 but regular wickets pegged Australia back every time they looked like getting to a score beyond 300.
“I think we had our opportunities throughout to post something up above 300,” said Smith.
“We were probably just that one wicket down too many at a few stages throughout the innings. If we extended one of those partnerships a little bit we’re probably getting up 290-300 and we’re putting a bit of pressure on the scoreboard.”
Pakistani fans dejected
Pakistan cricket fans and former players seethed Wednesday (5) after the host country’s already disappointing Champions Trophy suffered one last blow: no final.
“It’s totally unfair,” said Moeed Ali Khan, a private car driver outside Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to watch the second semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand.
“I am disgusted, neither our team is in the final nor is the final in Pakistan.”
Pakistan celebrated on February 19 when the country began staging its first major international cricket tournament in three decades.
But it was all downhill after that.
The hosts lost the opening match to New Zealand and their title defence was over with a comprehensive defeat to arch-rivals India.
Their dead-rubber final group match, against Bangladesh, was washed out.
The final was scheduled for Lahore, but with one big caveat: not if India reached the title decider.
By defeating Australia in the first semi-final, India did just that.
Meanwhile, Pakistan had earlier agreed to the so-called hybrid model of hosting on the condition that they will also not send their team to India for upcoming ICC events.
“We accepted this arrangement, so what is the fuss?” asked Abdul Samad, a cricket fan.
“When you do not have power you have to bow down and this is the bargain Pakistan had to do.
“No regrets for me. Our team and our cricket is lagging behind so we had to make a compromise.”
‘Double loss’
Others in Pakistan are not so pragmatic.
“No final in Pakistan after such a heavy investment on the venues is a blow,” former captain Rashid Latif told AFP.
“Pakistan is at the lowest level in terms of finances and team-wise as well, which is a double loss.”
Pakistan reportedly spent the equivalent of 16 million dollars to upgrade the three venues in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
The country will reportedly get $6 million in hosting fees from the ICC.
But finances could be hit with the lack of interest in the 50-over tournament after the home team’s early exit.
Three of the matches in Pakistan were hit by bad weather and empty seats at games were noticeable.
“India have improved enormously and that has been evident in this event,” said Latif, reflecting on what has happened on the pitch.
“But I think politics has lowered the cricket a great deal.”
He added: “I think had they come to Pakistan and lifted the trophy in Lahore it would have been great.”
Latif says the repercussions of the split hosting will last beyond the Champions Trophy.
“This problem of one team not coming to another country and in future Pakistan not going to India will hit world cricket badly,” he said.
“It needs to be addressed quickly.” (Agencies)
