South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen celebrates after scoring fifty during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Afghanistan and South Africa, in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP)
South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen has admitted that India has the advantage of playing all its matches in Dubai, but at the same time, it will be under immense pressure to do well in the ongoing Champions Trophy. India is playing all its Champions Trophy matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the ability to train and play in one place, coupled with the absence of any inter-city or inter-country travel, gives India an edge that they will be under pressure to fully exploit,” Rassie van der Dussen told ESPNCricinfo.
“I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to know that. The onus would be on them to use that advantage.
“In a sense, it puts more pressure on them because whoever is going to play them in the semi or potentially the final is going to go there and the conditions are going to be foreign but they [India] are going to be used to it.
“The pressure would be on them to get it right because they have all that knowledge.”
Recently former England captains Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, and Pakistan head coach Aaqib Javed has suggested that India had the upper hand from the outset.
“See, they are in Dubai for a reason,” Aaqib said.
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“If they are playing in Dubai for a reason, definitely if you play on the same pitch or ground, you will have an advantage. But we are not losing because they had the advantage of the same hotel and pitch (laughs). It’s not just because of the pitch, and neither did they play some ten matches there.”
Michael Atherton in conversation with Naseer Hussain on Sky Sports Podcast had said: “What about the advantage India have in playing in Dubai, only in Dubai? Which seems to me to be a hard-to-quantify advantage, but an undeniable advantage.”
Nasser Hussain said: “It is an advantage. So, the best team in the tournament have that advantage. And I saw a tweet the other day saying ‘Pakistan host nation, India home advantage.’ It sums it up really,” he said.
“They are at one place, one hotel, they don’t have to travel. They have one dressing room. They know the pitch, they have picked for that pitch.”
