India’s “home advantage” during the Champions Trophy has been criticised by former England captains Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton.
Pakistan are hosts of the ongoing tournament, yet had to travel to Dubai to face India on Sunday. India have refused to visit Pakistan during the tournament, and are guaranteed to play all their matches – including the final, should they qualify – in Dubai. Every other side in the competition must go to Dubai to face India should they play against them, leaving India as the sole nation that are guaranteed to play all of their games in the same venue.
While other countries had to consider the possibility of playing in United Arab Emirates as well as Pakistan, India picked their squad knowing that they would play on the same pitch in Dubai. India picked five spinners in their squad, in anticipation of turning wickets in Dubai. After two comprehensive wins, over Bangladesh and Pakistan, India have already qualified for the semi-finals.
“It is an advantage. For the best team in the tournament to have that advantage...”, said Hussain, England’s captain from 1999-2003. “I saw a tweet the other day: Pakistan – host nation, India – home advantage. That sort of sums it up, really.”
As well as familiarity with the conditions, India also do not need to travel between different venues during the competition, staying in the same hotel throughout.
“All the other sides have to pick for different conditions – Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Dubai, and then they have to travel and adjust to those conditions,” Hussain said.
“It is an advantage, but what else could happen? ICC, once India refused to come here to Pakistan, what else could happen? You can’t have a tournament like this without India-Pakistan, that’s not going to happen. It had to be in Dubai. They [India] sit happily and comfortably there, knowing that they will probably play six games there, and if they win all those they will win another global tournament.”
Mike Atherton, England’s Test captain from 1993-98, also believes that India enjoy a major advantage in the tournament.
“About the advantage India have in playing in Dubai, only in Dubai, which seems to me to be a hard-to-quantify advantage but an undeniable advantage,” Atherton said.
“They’re playing at just one venue. They don’t have to travel between venues or, you know, between countries as a lot of other teams have to do. Therefore, the selection can focus on Dubai, you know, can focus in on the conditions in Dubai, where they are playing their semi-final as and when they get through to that. That seems to me an undeniable advantage.”
India may have also, potentially, benefitted from playing in the final game of the group stages. Had they been chasing qualification, India would have known exactly what they needed to do. Instead, India’s game with New Zealand will merely determine which team finishes first in the group. The two sides to qualify from group B – including, potentially, England – will not know where their semi-final venue is until after India’s match.
The group stages ending with an India fixture continues a trend in global events that has raised concerns about the integrity of the tournaments.
In both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups, India played the last group game in the tournament – meaning that, should qualification be determined by net run-rate, the side would know exactly what they needed to do to qualify. The potential benefit was even greater as, on both occasions, India played among the weakest sides in the group – Namibia in 2021 and Zimbabwe in 2022. In the 2023 one-day international World Cup, India yet again played the last group game – once again against a less-fancied side, the Netherlands.
In last year’s T20 World Cup, India were guaranteed to play their semi-final in Guyana, regardless of where they finished in the preceding stage. While every other country had to prepare to play semi-finals at two potential venues, India could focus all their energy on planning for Guyana’s spinning conditions. They duly thrashed England in the semi-final.
