Champions Trophy: The Dubai leg, a tournament within the tournament
Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja reflect on past World Cups as India prepares for the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai, a city with mixed cricket sentiments.
Dubai: Enroute to their pre-tournament team photo shoot, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are trying to remember how many ICC World Cups they have competed in. Rohit recalls he’s been to nine T20 World Cups, Jadeja has lost count.
The usual giggle and laughs take over as cricketers emote over photographer’s instructions. “Satarah baar bulaya hai unhone, yehi sab karne (17 times they have called me, to do all this),” Rohit tells Jadeja in a BCCI video.
By now their minds have been trained so well to embrace a world tournament and all it accompanies that you wonder if the emotions are spontaneous anymore.
Playing an ICC event in Dubai? They’ve done that before. India were here when the 2021 T20 World Cup, for which they had hosting rights, was shifted to the UAE because of Covid. IPL 2020 and part of IPL 2021 were also played here during the pandemic. In 2014, IPL was shifted to the UAE during general elections.
Much before Dubai became the go-to match venue for BCCI and ICC, it was Pakistan cricket’s adopted home. Through the 2010s when international cricket came to a grinding halt in Pakistan for security reasons, they played their matches here. Even then, it appeared more of a make-do arrangement. Pakistan would play their home Tests to swathes of empty seats.
Dubai is not a cricket-mad city. It is a commercial hub for expatriates. The biggest number comes from India, followed by Pakistan. They come together as spectators to make India-Pakistan cricket clashes a big occasion. But Dubai falls short in making it a truly international event as evident during the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Just before dawn on Tuesday, the Dubai international airport is a hub of activity. The loaded conveyer belts reflect that. Someone’s flown down to crack a business deal, some have come in for the upcoming David Gray concert, some for the Burj Khalifa. No one’s got cricket on their mind.
Until you drive down to the Dubai Sports City which houses the Dubai International Stadium and watch ICC’s Champions Trophy signages, you would not have an inkling that a major cricket event is to be staged here. But the Ring of Fire with its glittering LED lights, modern amenities and lush green outfield are all one needs to make it a television spectacle.
The Dubai leg of the Champions Trophy will be a significant one in this eight-team tournament. While the Pakistan Cricket Board will benefit from the gate receipts, it would be a stretch to call this their home city in spirit.
India does not travel to Pakistan due to security concerns. At least four of the tournament’s 15 matches will be played in Dubai. They include India’s league matches, one of them against Pakistan. These matches are spread over 10 days while the rest of the tournament rolls across Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. New Zealand and Bangladesh too will have pit stops at Dubai to play India. One semi-final, and the final if India qualify, will be held here.
The Dubai matches are really a tournament within a tournament, the India leg of an event being hosted by Pakistan. The 2023 ODI World Cup in India wasn’t too dissimilar where the Indian team did all the travelling to cater to as many host cities as they could while Pakistan played in fewer Indian cities as per their choice.
In the lead up to their tournament opener (against Bangladesh on Thursday), India trained at the ICC academy on Monday, once under the afternoon sun and then under the lights. The team took a day off on Tuesday when the sun refused to show up. A drizzle and mostly overcast skies may not be ideal weather for cricket, but it also reduces the chances of dew, something India may be wary of considering that they have stocked their squad with spinners.