ICC Champions Trophy 2025: India to play on used pitches in Dubai? Report reveals

The Champions Trophy 2025 is just around the corner with the teams giving their preparations a final touch. All the teams in the tournament, except India, will play their matches in Pakistan.

The matches involving India will be played in Dubai due to the hybrid model after the BCCI refused to send its team to Pakistan. However, there have been concerns over the matches in Dubai being played on used pitches due to the involvement of the stadium in various important tournaments recently.

Dubai hosted 15 matches of the ILT20 league recently during January-February 2025 which also included the crucial knockout matches of the tournament, including the final. Hence, there were concerns about the used pitches being used for the Champions Trophy.

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India to play on used pitches in Dubai?

A report from PTI confirmed that India will play their matches on two totally fresh pitches which were earlier reserved for the Champions Trophy. Thus, the Men in Blue might not have to deal with slow and deteriorating pitches at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Two out of ten pitches in Dubai were not used during the ILT20 just to ensure that they remain in a fresh condition for India's matches in the Champions Trophy. However, it is still unknown whether those pitches were used in the playoffs or not.

“There are 10 match strips at the DICS. During the league stage, there was specific instruction that those two won’t be used now and needed to be kept fresh for the Champions Trophy,” the source was quoted as saying by PTI.

“However, whether any of the two was used for the play-offs isn’t known. The idea is to ensure that it doesn’t become low and slow after over-use and matches become drag. The fresh pitches will aid the batters and bowlers in equal measure,” the source added.

The new pitches are likely to provide assistance to the fast bowlers and will have a good bounce. As the matches go on, the pitches will start turning which will bring Indian spinners into the game.

After the Women's T20 World Cup 2024, Dubai has hosted a no. of high-profile tournaments like the men's Under-19 Asia Cup and the recently concluded IT20, which is the marquee franchise-based cricket tournament of the UAE.

How will the Dubai surface behave?

Overall, Dubai has been seamer-friendly, especially under the lights with the new ball. The pitches are known for good bounce and constant seam movement under the lights. However, the new pitches are likely to provide assistance to the spinners.

The pitches are going to be slightly on the slower side and the spinners who bowl at a quicker pace, will be helpful. The batters will find it easy once they get their eye in which ensures an equal balance between bat and ball.

India's bowling attack for Champions Trophy 2025

India have a spin-heavy attack for the Champions Trophy with a total of five spinners in their squad, which includes two specialist spinners and three spin-bowling allrounders. Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy are the two specialist spinners while Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar are the all-rounders.

Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana will handle the fast bowling department with Hardik Pandya playing as the fast-bowling allrounder. Shami is the leader of this pace attack and a lot will rely on him.

The Men in Blue will begin their campaign on February 20 against Bangladesh. They will then face arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23 before facing New Zealand on March 2. All of India's games will be played in Dubai.