Follow UsIn a bizarre situation, South Africa and Australia, two teams from group B, will have to travel to Dubai to make it to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-finals, where one of the two semi-finals involving India is scheduled to be played.
An ICC official said the decision had been taken to allow the side that plays the semi-final in Dubai on March 4 the maximum time to prepare for that contest,” ESPN Cricinfo wrote in a report.
Since Australia have already left for Dubai, South Africa will do so after the match. Who will play India in Dubai will only be decided after the India-New Zealand game.
Should India win, the second place of the two between the Proteas and the Kangaroos will stay in Dubai while the other will come back and play its semi-final against New Zealand in Lahore. If India lose and finish second, then the first-placed team from Group B will stay in Dubai.
When asked if this extra travel is an inconvenience for his team, Marco Jansen, who just came off a Player of the Match winning performance against England, said that it’s not that big of a deal and he’ll enjoy the chance to play some golf while in Dubai.
“I don't mind it,” Jansen said after the game against England in Karachi.
“I haven't played golf in a long time so I'm looking forward to that. It’s a short flight. It's an hour-and-a-half flight, so it's sort of like a domestic flight back home. It's not too much of a hassle, or if you can call it like that. But yeah, like I said, I'm pretty excited to play some golf,” the tall allrounder added.
Jansen also wasn’t too worried about India’s advantage of having stayed and played all their games in Dubai in the Champions Trophy. He backed South Africa to play well against India, and said that they are “really, really good players of spin.”
“We’ll see how they [India] do against New Zealand because obviously that's going to determine who we play in the semi-final and that also will say or tell us where we're playing,” Jansen said after defeating England by seven wickets.
“But if we play in Dubai and it's against India, obviously they've had training and that kind of stuff, so they will be more used to the conditions.
“But we've also played in Dubai, so it's not something new. We play spin really, really well. So, I don't think it's that much or that too much of an advantage, if you can say it like that. I just think it all comes down to on the day who plays better on the day.”
The first semifinal will be played on March 4 in Dubai, while the other semi-final will be played in Lahore on March 5.