Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa weighed in on the “Dubai advantage” for India in the ongoing Champions Trophy and stated that there was a reason why India refused to travel to Pakistan. Critics, active players and former cricketers have been claiming that Rohit Sharma and co. have an unfair advantage as they are playing all their matches in Dubai. Uthappa dismissed the criticism, stating that the contest was ultimately between bat and ball and that the team which was better will get the win.
Uthappa dismisses India’s “Dubai advantage” narrative
Uthappa explained that India refused to travel to Pakistan due to geopolitical reasons, adding that it was the country’s right to do so. He claimed that India could have easily complained that their record would have been very good had they played in Pakistan and that every batter could have made runs.
“Why didn’t we go to Pakistan? These are geopolitical reasons. And every country has a right. If they don’t want to go, then they shouldn’t go. And if a team has to play in a venue because of that, then they have to play. We could have complained that if we had played in Pakistan, our record scores would have been very good. Every batsman gets an opportunity to make a run. This is a matter of speaking,” Uthappa said.
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Further, Uthappa opined that India had a familiarity advantage more than a home advantage. It is pertinent to point out that India would have enjoyed the same advantage had they travelled to Pakistan, simply because they would have played all their matches in Lahore.
“I won’t call it a home advantage, but there is definitely a familiarity advantage. I was listening to an interview yesterday. If I am not mistaken, Wasim Jaffer was saying that if he was going to play in Dubai, he could have played one match in Dubai, one match in Abu Dhabi and one match in Sharjah. He could have definitely done that. So that other teams don’t have to complain about this situation,” Uthappa added.
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