By Karan Agrawal 
There has been a lot of chatter about India’s potential advantage as the Rohit Sharma-led side is playing all its matches in Dubai. Former players from countries like Pakistan and England in particular have been quite vocal about the added advantage that India has as compared to other teams in the tournament given the fact that they don’t have to travel from one venue to another to play matches which results in them getting the much-needed rest and get familiar with the conditions in Dubai. The BCCI clarified its stance on not traveling to Pakistan due to the sour relations between India and Pakistan before the start of the Champions Trophy 2025 as a result Dubai was chosen as the venue to host matches involving India.
The Reaction
Having reached the knockout stage of the tournament India will also play the semi-final in Dubai on March 4 as was conveyed by the ICC when the schedule of the Champions Trophy was announced. Following the debate over ICC not providing an equal playing field to all teams by favouring India England captain Jos Buttler expressed his views on the potential advantage that India has in playing all its matches in Dubai. Talking to reporters before England’s match against Afghanistan. Buttler said “Not really. I think it’s a unique tournament already, isn’t it, with being hosted here with one team playing in a different place but that’s not something I’m sort of worried too much about at the moment. I’ve got all my focus on preparing well tonight and our game tomorrow.”
Expert’s Corner
Buttler’s reaction succeeded the comments made by former England captain Michael Atherton who questioned India’s advantage by playing all its matches in one venue as they have a fair idea of how the pitch will behave and have picked their team based on that. “What about the advantage India has in playing in Dubai, only in Dubai? Which seems to me to be a hard-to-quantify advantage, but an undeniable advantage. 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,” Atherton said while speaking to Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports.
“Therefore, the selection, you know, can focus 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.”
The Factors
Former England captain Nasser Hussain who was with Atherton agreed to his comments regarding the advantage that India has in the ongoing edition of the Champions Trophy and ratrated the factors that provide India an advantage over other teams in the tournament. “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 Hussain.