Unfair advantage

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final is set to be played in Dubai on Sunday (March 9), with India set to face New Zealand. Pakistan was the host for the tournament, thus all matches were scheduled to be held in Pakistan. However, as expected, India refused to play its matches in Pakistan for political reasons and said it would like to play all its matches at a different venue. The ICC, rather than prevailing upon India to play in Pakistan, succumbed to the pressure and agreed to hold the Indian team’s matches in Dubai. By allowing India to play all its matches at one venue, the ICC, in my opinion, provided a distinct advantage to the Indian cricket team. Lately, even some Indian players have admitted that playing all matches at one location and under the same conditions has given them an edge.

Surprisingly, none of the participating teams objected to this special treatment provided to the Indian cricket team. Had the teams collectively raised concerns and taken a strong stance, the ICC may have forced the Indian team to play in Pakistan. It is also necessary to point out that it is the ICC’s responsibility to ensure a level playing-field between all teams. This situation should not be repeated in future and teams that unreasonably refuse to play in a certain country ought to be penalised

Dr Nasreen Javed

Rawalpindi