India’s coach Gautam Gambhir was left unimpressed at the insinuations that the Men in Blue had gained an unfair advantage by playing all of their Champions Trophy 2025 matches at the same venue, Dubai.
India beat Australia by four wickets in the first semi-final of the 50-over tournament on Tuesday.
"See, first of all, this is as neutral a venue for us as it is for any other team,” Gambhir said after the match.
"We have not played here. I don’t remember when last we played here. And in fact, we didn’t plan anything like that. The plan was that if you pick two frontline spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere, we would have picked two frontline spinners because this was a competition in the subcontinent.
"So it’s not like we wanted to spin a spinners’ web. If you look at it, we only played one frontline spinner in the first two matches. We played two frontline spinners in this match and the previous match.
"And there’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven’t practiced here even for one day. We’re practicing at the ICC academy. And the conditions there and here are 180 degrees different. Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man. They’ve got to grow up. I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage.”
Gambhir also said Virat Kohli’s vast experience and knack of planning his innings to perfection are reasons he is so successful in one-day internationals, after the batsman led the team into the Champions Trophy final.
Kohli scored a controlled 84 from 98 balls during India’s successful pursuit of 265 against Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, enhancing his reputation as one of the game’s great chasers.
The 36-year-old now averages 64.50 when India bat second in ODIs, well ahead of South African batsman AB de Villiers (56.81) in second place. Kohli’s average is a staggering 89.50 when his team are successful chasing.
"He’s a phenomenal one-day cricketer,” Gambhir said.
"He knows how to plan his runs, how to plan whether he’s batting first or chasing and he adapts to the conditions really quickly. That’s why experienced and high-quality players are very important.
"That’s the reason he’s got those kinds of records in one-day cricket. I hope he continues to do that in future as well.”
While Kohli can be devastating if he decides to take on the bowlers, his knock on Tuesday contained only five boundaries and showcased the discipline that is sometimes required during a tricky chase.
His only disappointment on the evening was not being able to make a record-extending 52nd ODI century and 29th while chasing after an unbeaten 100 against hosts Pakistan earlier.
"He’s arguably the best chaser the game has seen,” Australia captain Steve Smith said.
"He’s done it numerous times against us. He controls the tempo of the game really well, plays to his strengths and takes the game deep. I thought he played really well again.”
India take on the winners of Wednesday’s semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand. The final is on Sunday.
