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Former England captain Nasser Hussain says that India have the ‘home advantage’ in the Champions Trophy due to playing all the matches at a neutral venue in Dubai.
Ahead of the tournament, India refused to play in Pakistan due to the historically complicated tensions between the two nations, and a two-country hosting solution was reluctantly agreed on. India are now playing all of their games in the United Arab Emirates, including the final if they get there.
Rohit Sharma’s side have won their opening two matches in the competition comfortably, beating first Bangladesh and then Pakistan by six wickets to ensure their place in the semi-finals.
Michael Atherton, another former England captain, joined Hussain on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast and the pair discussed the benefits for India of playing at the same venue.
Atherton posed the question: “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.”
“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,” replied Hussain.
He added: “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.
“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 haven’t you gone for an extra seamer? Why all these spinners? Now we can seen why.”
Hussain then explained how different the tournament is for the other teams who have to travel to different venues for each game.
He said: “For example the other sides like England if they do get to the semis they have only one spinner [this is no longer true as leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has been added as a late replacement for seamer Brydon Carse], Pakistan have one frontline spinner. You can says 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, Rawalpindi, Dubai 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.”
