Srinagar: England legends Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton have termed playing all matches in Dubai a big advantage for India
Rohit Sharma-led India are playing all their matches of ICC Champions Trophy-2025 in Dubai.
Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton made these statements in the backdrop of India qualifying for the semifinal with easy wins over Bangladesh and co-hosts Pakistan while chasing below par targets.
“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,” said Michael Atherton in conversation with Naseer Hussain on Sky Sports Podcast.
“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, you know, kind of hard to quantify how big an advantage,” he said.
Hussain said that the Indian selectors were wrongly criticised as they picked the perfect combination for the spin-friendly track of Dubai. He also recalled a tweet he saw mentioning India getting home advantage in Dubai.
“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,” he said.
“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 batter.
“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.”
He feels that it is unfair on other teams who had to pick the squad keeping in mind different pitch conditions in Pakistan and for Dubai.
“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 say that when the injuries came they should have change that and I have made that argument”.
“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 happen. You can’t have a tournament like this without India-Pakistan. It had to be in Dubai”.
“They sit happily and comfortably there. They know they are going to play six games there and if they will win all those, they will win another global tournament,” he opined.