India accused of gaining 'undeniable advantage' from ICC: 'They are at one place, one hotel; know the pitch. No travel'

Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton believe India will enjoy the perks of playing all their Champions Trophy matches at the same venue.

Former England cricketers Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain believe India have a clear advantage over other teams in the Champions Trophy since they are playing all their matches at the same venue as compared to the remaining seven travelling squads. The Indian cricket team, captained by Rohit Sharma, will play all their matches at the Dubai International Stadium as the team didn't get the clearance to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy. This left the ICC with no choice but to stage the tournament in a hybrid model, which would see India playing at UAE's Dubai while the remaining teams in Pakistan. This also means that whichever team India face will have to travel to Dubai, let alone from one city to another in Pakistan.

Team India plays all their matches at the Dubai International Stadium (Getty)

And this, Atherton reckons, is as big an advantage as any for the Men in Blue, who seek their second ICC title in consecutive years. As a matter of fact, India also play their semifinal and the final – if they qualify – in Dubai. Hence, not having to travel and being in the same city, playing in similar conditions are perks they get to enjoy.

"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. 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," Atherton said while speaking to Naseer Hussain on Sky Sports.

"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."

Nasser Hussain echoes Michael Atherton

Hussain agrees with Atherton in the sense that by the time India wrap up all their Group A matches and heads into the knockout, they would be more acclimatised to the conditions there than any other team. Especially the semi-final, where India's opponents will be a team from Group B, who would come to Dubai not having played a single Champions Trophy 2025 match at the venue.

"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. 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," said the former England captain.

"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."

Questions were asked of captain Rohit, head coach Gautam Gambhir and the BCCI chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar for picking five spinners in the squad. As it turns out, the move proved to have worked wonders as in the game against Pakistan, the trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja combined to pick five wickets. Having a spin-heavy squad isn't a benefit many teams have, mentions Hussain.

"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," he said.

"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. So it is an advantage but what else could have happened? Once India refused to come to Pakistan, what could have happened? You can’t have a tournament like this without India-Pakistan. It had to be in Dubai."