Matt Henry stokes ‘venue advantage’ controversy after India’s win over NZ

New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry is the latest to join the ranks who have criticized India for playing all the matches at the same venue. Matt Henry feels that India had the luxury of knowing conditions well as compared to the other teams.

India are scheduled to play all of their games in the ongoing Champions Trophy in Dubai after they refused to travel to Pakistan. As a result, India's opponent teams have been critical of India receiving an 'undeniable advantage' of playing at just one venue.

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Matt Henry adds fuel to India's 'Venue Advantage' criticism

After losing to India in the final group stage match of the tournament, New Zealand pacer Matt Henry spoke about the Men in Blue's familiarity with conditions which enabled them to do well in the match.

"I think, obviously, the way to have four frontline spinners was a really effective way to play. I think having that luxury of knowing (conditions). They played to the conditions beautifully. That was probably the challenge for us," Henry said in the press conference.

India played four spinners in this match - Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy. They decided to rest the fast bowler Harshit Rana for this match but his replacement Chakravarthy was highly impressive with a five-wicket haul.

Before Matt Henry, a no. of former and current cricketers have clearly spoken on India's advantage for playing under similar conditions for the tournament. Some of those names are Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, and the current South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen.

Matt Henry lauds India's spinners

While speaking further in the press conference, Matt Henry also praised Indian bowlers for their impressive performance. He said a few special words for Chakravarthy for producing a brilliant performance with his subtle variations.

"We knew that they were going to play the four spinners. They bowled beautifully. They read the situation and the conditions well. Yeah, unfortunately, we couldn't get across the line." Henry stated.

"He (Chakravarthy) bowled beautifully, didn't he? I think he showed his skill, the way he turned the ball both ways, he could bowl pace. They were able to put us under pressure right throughout," he observed.

"He extracted turn and pace and he just, to be on a match-winning performance like that, to be able to create pressure and I suppose that's what they did in tandem," the pacer said.

Matt Henry himself was also impressive in this game and returned with figures of 5-42 in 8 overs. The NZ seamer was exceptional with the new ball and also bowled well in the death overs.

Will India drop Varun Chakravarthy in the semi-final?

India will next play Australia in the semi-final to be played on March 4 in Dubai. With Chakravarthy performing exceptionally well against New Zealand, India will have a selection headache.

Chakravarthy produced brilliant match-winning figures of 5-42 in 10 overs and won the Player of the Match award as well. He proved to be the X-factor for his team in the last match.

The pitch in Dubai is likely to assist the spinners and there is a high possibility of India going with the same Playing XI for this game. However, they will face a high-quality Australian batting line-up which usually does well in ICC tournaments.