After defeating Australia in the semi-final on Tuesday, March 4, the Indian squad advanced to the Champions Trophy final.
They will now face either South Africa or New Zealand in the final on Sunday, March 9. The Dubai International Stadium will now host the final because to India’s qualification.
India has undoubtedly been enjoying yet another fantastic ICC event in which they have yet to lose. Nonetheless, some cricket fans and former players continue to hold the opinion that the Men in Blue have unfairly benefited from playing at the same location and not having to travel. Gautam Gambhir, the former world champion and head coach of India, silenced the naysayers, saying that the field and location were unfamiliar and neutral for them, just as for every other team that had played there.
“You see, this is a venue that is just as neutral for us as it is for any other team. We haven’t performed here. I can’t recall our most recent performance here. And to be honest, we had no such plans. According to ESPNCricinfo, Gautam Gambhir stated, “The idea was that if you pick two frontline spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere else, we would have picked two frontline spinners because this was a subcontinental competition.”
Therefore, we didn’t want to create a web of lies. We only used one frontline spinner in the first two games, if you look at it. In both this game and the last one, we used two frontline spinners,” Gautam Gambhir continued.
The excessive advantage and other issues are hotly debated. What is the unfair advantage? Not even a day has passed since we last practiced here. At the ICC Academy, we are practicing. Additionally, there is a 180-degree difference between the conditions there and here. Man, some individuals are just constant whiners. They need to mature. Nothing seemed to give us an unfair advantage, in my opinion,” Gambhir continued.
Speaking of the second semi-final, it will take place on Wednesday, March 5 at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. This will be the final game played in Pakistan.
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