'Not Our...': Rohit Sharma Sharply Responds To Accusations Of India's 'Dubai Advantage' At Champions Trophy 2025
Photo : AP
India have had a terrific run in the Champions Trophy 2025. They secured three back-to-back wins in the group stages against Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand, as they qualified for the semi-final of the tournament, where they will face Astralia. As India refused to travel to Pakistan, an arrangement has been made wherein the Men in Blue are playing all their matches in the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai, UAE. This has caused many former players like Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, and current players like Rassie van der Dussen and Pat Cummins to accuse India of a massive 'home' advantage. Rohit Sharma has now responded to this criticism.
Speaking to the media before the India vs Australia semi-final, Rohit Sharma has dismissed the 'home' advantage accusations. He said that the pitch in Dubai has behaved differently in each of the three matches in the tournament so far. He also pointed out the fact that they have not played enough matches in Dubai in the past.
"Every time, the pitch is giving you different challenges. The three matches that we played here, the pitch has behaved differently. This is not our home, this is Dubai. We don't play so many matches here, and this is new for us too. There are four or five surfaces that are being used here. See, I don't know which pitch is going to be played in the semifinals. But whatever happens, we will have to adapt and see what is happening and what is not. And we will play on that," the Indian captain responded.
'Adapted Well To Dubai Pitch'
Rohit Sharma admitted that it was important to adapt to conditions in Dubai quickly, and hence coming to the venue five or six before their first Champions Trophy game helped them.
"It was important for us to adapt quickly to these conditions. Luckily, we came here five or six days before, we had good training sessions and the pitches at the (ICC) Academy were very much similar to what we are going to get here. So, the adaptation is the key when you play on any surface and we adapted pretty well in all three games," Rohit further added.
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