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Indian captain Rohit Sharma defended his team against claims of having an advantage in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai, countering critics like Aaqib Javed and Nasser Hussain.
Rohit Sharma (L, Sportzpics) and Nasser Hussain (AFP Photo).
Indian captain Rohit Sharma has staunchly defended his team from critics who claim the Men in Blue have an ‘advantage’ in the 2025 Champions Trophy because they are playing all their matches in Dubai. Rohit said, although it’s the same ground, multiple pitches are being used at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, which behave differently and are hard to predict, making it as important for India to adapt as other teams.
Pakistan interim coach Aaqib Javed, South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen and former England cricketers Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton are among a few involved with the tournament that have said India ‘definitely’ have an advantage. They believe that unlike other teams, India have a ‘home’ of their own in Dubai, and are also better off because they don’t have to travel between Pakistan and the UAE.
“Every time, the pitch is giving you different challenges. The three matches that we played here, the pitch has behaved differently. This is not our home, this is Dubai. We don’t play so many matches here, and this is new for us too,” Rohit said during the pre-match press meet ahead of the semifinal against Australia, as quoted by PTI.
“There are four or five surfaces that are being used here. See, I don’t know which pitch is going to be played in the semifinals. But whatever happens, we will have to adapt and see what is happening and what is not. And we will play on that,” he added.
“We saw that when the (New Zealand) bowlers were bowling, it was swinging a little bit. We did not see it in the first two games when our bowlers were bowling. In the last game, we did not get to see that much spin, today there was a bit of it. So, there are different things happening on every surface. So, it is not like we know what is going to happen on this pitch and what is not going to happen,” he said.
Both Australia and South Africa traveled to Dubai to train ahead of the semi-final. Once it was decided that the former would play India after the Men in Blue’s 44-run win over New Zealand, the Proteas went back to Lahore and will now face the Kiwis on Wednesday.
- Location :
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
