England’s Jos Buttler took a subtle dig at the situation where India are the only team in the Champions Trophy 2025 tournament getting to play all their matches in one venue, Dubai.
“Not really. I think it’s a unique tournament already, isn’t it, with being hosted here with one team playing in a different place but that’s not something I’m sort of worried too much about at the moment. I’ve got all my focus on preparing well tonight and our game tomorrow,” said Buttler in the pre-match press conference ahead of the Afghanistan game.
Buttler’s comments in come in the wake of former England captains Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain commenting on the advantage India have of playing in just one set of conditions in Dubai and not having to travel at all unlike the other teams.
India also play their semifinal and the final – if they qualify – in Dubai. Hence, not having to travel and being in the same city, playing in similar conditions are perks only they get to enjoy.
“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. They’re playing at just one venue. They don’t have to travel either between venues or, you know, between countries, as a lot of other teams have to do,” Atherton said while speaking to Naseer Hussain on Sky Sports.
“Therefore, the selection, you know, can focus in on the conditions in Dubai. And obviously, they’ll know where they’re playing their semi-final as and when they get through to that. That seems to me to be an undeniable advantage, but, you know, kind of hard to quantify how big an advantage.”
