Follow UsAs India prepare to play their fourth match in Dubai in this ICC Champions Trophy 2025, there’s been a lot of chatter about the ‘unfair advantage’ the team holds in getting to not just play at the same venue but avoid travel altogether.
The scheduling of the competition, in fact, has drawn plenty of criticism with several former and current cricketers openly claiming how India have a clear advantage. Pat Cummins and Rassie van der Dussen are among the active cricketers who have come out and claimed how India have a distinct advantage because of the scheduling.
However, ahead of the semi-final against Australia, team India skipper Rohit Sharma spoke of how mastery over conditions has been non-existent for his side due to the ever-changing nature of Dubai, which, according to him, has played very differently across the three group games.
“The three matches we played, the nature of the surface was the same. But in all three games, the pitch has behaved differently,” Rohit said ahead of the semi-final against Australia.
“Today, we saw that when the bowlers were bowling, their ball was swinging a little. We didn't see that in the first two games when our bowlers were bowling. And in the evening, it's a little cold in the air. So, there are obviously a lot of chances of that swing.
“There are four or five surfaces that are being used. So, every surface has a different nature. We don't know which wicket will be played. The pitches look the same, but when you play on it, it's played in a different way. So, you can't go thinking that we played like this yesterday, and today we'll play like this.”
Dubai has seen significantly lower-scoring games in this Champions Trophy as compared to the matches in Pakistan, and Rohit explained how the unpredictable nature of the sluggish wickets have made life difficult for the batters in the UAE.
Three venues in this Champions Trophy have hosted 3+ games and, among them, Dubai’s average bat-first score of 239 is by some distance the lowest.
“Every time, because of the different pitches, the pitch is giving you different challenges as a batsman,” Rohit said.
“We have to think whether it's necessary to play these shots or not. We saw a little spin today, but didn't see that much spin in the last game.
“So, there are different things happening on every surface. Even for us it is a little bit of a question mark as to which pitch is being played. Because there are four or five surfaces that are being used here.”
On March 4 (Tuesday), Australia will be playing their first match in Dubai in this Champions Trophy. The Aussies played each of their three group matches in Pakistan but flew to Dubai on Saturday to prepare for a potential semi-final against India.
Now, if Australia beat India, they’ll have to fly back once again to Pakistan and play the final in Lahore. Meanwhile, if India make it to the final, the winner of New Zealand - South Africa will have to fly to Dubai to play the final.