India ‘s impressive run in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025 has led to claim that the Rohit Sharma -led side has an ‘advantage’ since they are playing at a single venue and have a better grasp of the conditions than others. As per the Hybrid Model, India are playing all their matches of the tournament in Dubai while the rest of the games hosted across three cities in Pakistan.
The likes of Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Pat Cummins, Rassie van der Dussen among others have said that the Indian team is benefitting by having all their games at a single venue in addition to not having to travel either.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has called out ‘perpetual cribbers’ while claiming that Dubai is a neutral venue for his team as it is for others, and he cannot recall the last time they played a tournament at this stadium.
“I know, there’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage," Gambhir said during a media interaction following India’s win over Australia in the Champions Trophy semifinal on Tuesday night. “But what is an undue advantage? First of all, this is as much of a neutral venue for us as it is for any other team. I don’t remember which tournament we played in this stadium last time."
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