Gautam Gambhir destroys 'Unfair Advantage' controversy; gives a tight slap to Dubai critics
Published - 05 Mar 2025, 11:55 AM | Updated - 05 Mar 2025, 11:36 PM
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India National Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir has strongly reacted to the claims that his team has an unfair home advantage of playing all matches in Dubai after they stormed into the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final with a commanding win over Australia in the semifinal on March 4.
The Rohit Sharma-led India National Cricket Team has so far been unbeaten in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025, but their campaign has been met with criticism over their schedule.
Is getting special treatment in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025?
Due to political and security reasons, India refused to play in Pakistan, resulting in Dubai being selected as the neutral venue for all their matches, while other teams had to travel between multiple venues and some had to travel between two countries.
Recently, former England captains Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton, as well as South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen, Jos Buttler, and Australia’s Pat Cummins, argued that the Men in Blue have an unfair advantage, as they don’t need to travel and adjust to one condition in Dubai.
Most recently, New Zealand had to make last-minute travel adjustments, first heading to Dubai for the final group match before returning to Lahore for their semifinal clash with South Africa on March 5. Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir was not directly asked about the controversy, but the Indian head coach addressed the notions after they qualified for the title clash.
Gautam Gambhir shuts down ‘Unfair Advantage’ claims after India’s dominant win over Australia in Semifinal
Gambhir has dismissed claims that the team had an unfair advantage by playing all their Champions Trophy 2025 matches in Dubai. He stressed that Dubai was just as neutral for India as it was for any other team, and they picked the squad based on subcontinental conditions, not Dubai.
While discussing India's strategy of playing four spinners, Gambhir has insisted that the Men in Blue’s strategy would have been the same even in Pakistan and lashed out at critics for repeatedly questioning their schedule in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Gautam Gambhir said at the post-match press conference, “First of all, this is as neutral a venue for us as it is for any other team. We have not played here. I don't remember which tournament we played in this stadium last. And in fact, we didn't plan anything like that.
The plan was that if you picked two front-line spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere, we would have picked two front-line spinners because it was a competition on the subcontinent.”
Some people are just perpetual cribbers: Gautam Gambhir
Addressing criticism about India’s all matches in Dubai, the head coach shut down claims of special treatment. He noted that the team had not even practiced at the stadium, and they train only at the ICC Academy, where conditions were vastly different from the main pitch.
Gautam Gambhir signed off by saying, “There's a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven't practiced here even for a day. We're practicing at the ICC Academy. If you look at the wickets there and here, the difference is between the ground and the sky.
Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man. They've got to grow up. So, I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage or we had planned something like that.”
