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India
Since the start of the Champions Trophy 2025, the chatter about India getting an advantage by playing all its matches in Dubai is on. ICC allowed Men in Blue to play all their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai after team India was not allowed to play in Pakistan due to their bilateral relations with the hosting nation. India is playing their all matches in Dubai including the knockouts. Many former cricketers have questioned the alleged unsaid ‘home advantage’ for team India.
Australia captain Pat Cummins, former England captains Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, and South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen have raised concern over the favoring factor for team India while playing in Dubai. India is currently playing Australia in the first semifinal, where during the toss, captain Rohit Sharma responded to the critics.
“We’ve played three games here and each time it had something different in it. You can’t really say this is how the pitch is going to play. The pitch keeps changing its nature,” Rohit addresses at the toss.
India’s unbeatable streak in group stage matches
Noticeably, India defeated Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh in the group-stage matches and all three wins were comfortable ones. In the first match against Bangladesh, Indian pacer Mohammed Shami had a 5-wicket haul in a comeback match after a long break due to injury. In the second match, Pakistan’s majority of wickets fell down to Indian spinners. Understanding the behavior of the pitch team India decided to go with 4 spinners against New Zealand.
Indian spinners shine in Dubai
The strategy worked in favor of men in blue and Indian spinners crushed New Zealand’s batting lineup at 205 runs while chasing the target of 250 runs. Teams that came to play India had to face opposite conditions in Dubai after batting favorable pitches in Pakistan. Accusations have been made that Dubai has turned out to be India’s home advantage despite playing in a different country.
Coming back to the semifinal clash between India and Australia, team India stopped the Aussies by 264 runs. India needs to chase 265 runs to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy final. Whoever wins the match will play the final with the winner of the second semifinal which will be held in Pakistan. If India wins the semifinal then the final will be held in Dubai itself.
