“Dubai is not our home” – Rohit Sharma shuts down unfair advantage claims

Due to political reasons, India is playing all their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 matches in the UAE instead of Pakistan. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) denied traveling to Pakistan for the ICC event. So all of India’s matches are scheduled for the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, including the semi-final and the final (if India qualifies).

Many cricket experts and fans criticize the Indian team for getting an unfair advantage by playing all matches at the same ground while other teams have to travel to different venues for their matches.

Rohit Sharma shuts down unfair advantage claims

Now Indian captain Rohit Sharma has addressed the criticism during the pre-match press conference on 3rd March saying, “No, look, the three matches we played, the nature of the surface was the same. But in all three games, the pitch has behaved differently. In the semi-final, we don’t know which pitch is going to be played. Yes, we don’t know which pitch is going to be played in the semi-final. But whatever happens, we have to adapt and see what is happening. We will play on that. This is not our home, this is Dubai. So, we don’t play so many matches here. This is new for us too

“Today (Sunday), we saw that when the bowlers were bowling, their ball was seaming and swinging a little. We didn’t see that in the first two games when our bowlers were bowling. And in the evening, it’s a little cold in the air. So, there are obviously a lot of chances of that swing. We know this. But the three games we played, there are four or five surfaces that are being used.” He added.

Recently, many cricket experts, including former England captain Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, claim that India is getting unfair advantage by playing at the same ground.

India is gearing up for the Australia challenge in the 1st Semi Final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 

India is set to play Australia in the 1st semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on March 4 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Both teams are yet to lose any match in this tournament. India dominated Group A by winning all three matches, while Steven Smith led Australia to win one match, and two were ended with no result due to rain.