Well well well, as soon as the news of Jay Shah becoming the Chairman of the ICC came out, many expected things to start swaying in the favour of India. And that is exactly what has started happening. Amidst all the talk of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy being hosted by Pakistan, Jay Shah has masterminded a way to tilt the scales in the favour of the Indian Cricket Team.
Just yesterday, the apex council of the ICC announced the schedule of the ICC Champions Trophy. It was earlier decided by the PCB and ICC that the tournament would follow a Hybrid playing model after the BCCI didn’t allow the Indian players to travel to Pakistan to play in the prestigious tournament. So it was already decided that the Indian contingent will be playing all its matches in the UAE. But with the schedule being announced there is a very interesting favour being done to the Indian Squad.
India To Play With An Undue Advantage
India will be the only team in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 who will play all their matches at the same venue, Dubai. Not only this, but if India qualifies for the knockout stages, and gets through to the Final, the all-important game which was to be held in Lahore will be shifted to Dubai just because of BCCI’s arrogance.
This denies Pakistani fans the opportunity to witness a truly historic game in their country. And that is the least of the worries. Playing the whole tournament on the same pitch would mean that by the time Team India starts playing the knockouts, they’ll know the Dubai pitch like the back of their own hands. Meanwhile, all other teams would still be trying to figure out the condition. Above all, playing at the same venue would greatly increase the rest period that India gets as they wouldn’t have to travel from one place to another like every other team participating in the tournament.
