Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the English pundits for their constant accusations of the Men in Blue’s apparent home advantage throughout the recently concluded 2025 Champions Trophy. As per the hybrid model, Rohit Sharma and company played all of their matches in Dubai, while the rest of the teams played in Pakistan and traveled to Dubai to face India.
The biggest point raised by the critics against the hybrid model was the fact that India had the advantage of playing in conditions that were quite familiar to them and that they did not have to travel at all.
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma shut down such allegations, citing they have had to adapt accordingly, much like other teams.
Sunil Gavaskar noted that if home advantage was such a huge factor, why did England struggle in familiar conditions in ICC events?
England hosted the first three ODI World Cups, starting in 1975, as well as the 1999 edition. Across these four events, they made it to the final just once. Furthermore, they hosted the ICC Champions Trophy thrice and also the 2009 T20 World Cup, but silverware continued to elude them until the home ODI World Cup in 2019.
Gavaskar added that India’s triumph should be attributed to their prowess rather than the conditions.
Team India finished the 2025 Champions Trophy unbeaten. They won all their group-stage matches before winning the knockout matches en route to the title. With only a solitary loss across the last three ICC events, the Men in Blue have piled up a generational run.
The hybrid model for the Champions Trophy was approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in December 2024, a couple of months prior to the tournament. Although the idea was not unanimously acclaimed back then, there was no major uproar either.
However, the claims of ‘unfair advantage’ spurred on with each Indian victory, reaching its peak following their progress into the final.
Gavaskar mentioned that any potential issues should have been raised before the tournament began and not during its run.
Team India faced New Zealand, Bangladesh, and Pakistan in the group stages before facing Australia and New Zealand in the semi-final and the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy, respectively.
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