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India have had a terrific start to their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. The Rohit Sharma-led side have won both their games so far, beating Bangladesh and Pakistan comprehensively and they have already qualified for the semi-finals.
Pakistan are the hosts for the tournament. However, the Indian government denied the team from flying to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. Hence, the ICC had to revert to a hybrid model where India play all of their games in Dubai.
Quite a few experts believe that playing at just one venue is a massive advantage for India. It allowed them to pick a squad that suits the pitches in Dubai.
Former England Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain also opined that India have a massive advantage. Atherton felt that not having to travel between venues and knowing where they’ll even play their semi-final encounter is an ‘undeniable advantage’.
“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. 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 kind of hard to quantify,” Michael Atherton was quoted saying on Sky Sports Cricket.
‘Pakistan, host nation, India, home advantage’
Nasser Hussain also echoed Atherton’s thoughts. He revealed that he saw a tweet which said Pakistan are the host nation while India have the home advantage and he feels it’s apt. He feels India are the best team in the competition and add to that, they have the advantage of playing in one venue.
“No, it is an advantage. So, the best team have in the tournament have that advantage. I saw a tweet the other day saying, Pakistan, home host nation, India, home advantage. And that sort of sums it up. Really, they’re in one place. They’re in one hotel. There is no travel. They’re in one dressing room. They know the pitch. They’ve picked for that pitch. I think selection, when they selected, they were very smart. They probably knew what Dubai was going to be like,” Nasser Hussain responded.
