During the just finished ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the star fast bowler for Australia concurred that India had a distinct edge due to playing at a single location. After declining to visit the host country, Pakistan, the Rohit Sharma-led team played all of their games at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India benefited from the Dubai surface during the competition since their spin quartet was able to generate strong grip out of the pitch, leaving the opposition perplexed.
Starc on India having undue advantage
Aussie pacer Starc recently discussed India's edge and gave them credit for their outstanding performance during the competition.
“There’s been a lot made on that topic obviously, India have tried to push that to the side and said that it’s a neutral venue. But there’s been a lot to come out of the tournament during and post. Obviously, India won fair and square, they’re a bloody good cricket team and have been across all formats from a long time,” said Starc on FanaticsTV Youtube channel.
The speedster added that he agreed with all of the criticism that is being made and emphasized the difficulties that the other teams faced while traveling because India had chosen to remain in one location.
“New Zealand played in Dubai and flew back to Pakistan for semi final and then again to Dubai to play the final. Even Pakistan despite being hosts had to travel out of their country to play India. Even David Miller spoke about the flight situation. When one team plays at the same place with no flights, I would tend to agree with some of the opinions that have come out,” he added.
India won all five of their games and was undefeated during the competition. India's head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma were also questioned during the event regarding their team's advantage of playing at a single location in Dubai. Gambhir referred to the critics as "perpetual cribbers," while the India skipper insisted that Dubai is not their home field. The widespread dispute has clouded India's successful campaign and detracted attention from their outstanding accomplishment.