‘No advantage’ in playing Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, says Indian batting coach

‘No advantage’ in playing Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, says Indian batting coach
India’s Hardik Pandya celebrates after taking the wicket of Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel during the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy group match at the Dubai International Stadium, Dubai, UAE on February 23, 2025. (REUTERS/File)
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Updated 07 March 2025

‘No advantage’ in playing Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, says Indian batting coach

‘No advantage’ in playing Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, says Indian batting coach
  • The tournament’s tangled schedule, forcing teams to travel to Dubai to play India, has become controversial
  • New Zealand head coach says his team has played a game in Dubai and will learn quickly from that experience

DUBAI: India playing all their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai was a pre-tournament decision and the talk of unfair advantage is baseless, the team’s batting coach said on Friday.
Rohit Sharma’s team face New Zealand in the title clash on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium, where India have been unbeaten in four matches.
India refused to tour hosts Pakistan in the eight-nation tournament due to political tensions and were given Dubai as their venue in the United Arab Emirates.
“The draw that happened, it happened before,” batting coach Sitanshu Kotak told reporters. “After India winning four matches, if people feel that there is an advantage, then I don’t know what to say about it.”
The tournament’s tangled schedule, with teams flying in and out of the UAE from Pakistan while India have stayed put, has been hugely controversial.
South Africa batsman David Miller said “it was not an ideal situation” for his team to fly in to Dubai to wait on India’s semifinal opponent and then fly back to Lahore in less than 24 hours.
Even nominal hosts Pakistan had to jump on a jet and fly to Dubai to play India, rather than face them on home soil.
The pitches have been vastly different in the two countries.
Pakistan tracks produced big totals, in contrast to the slow and turning decks of the Dubai stadium.
“End of the day, I think in a game, you have to play good cricket every day when you turn up,” the 52-year-old Kotak said. “So the only thing they (critics) may say is that we play here. But that is how the draw is.”
“So nothing else can happen in that. It is not that after coming here, they changed something and we got an advantage,” he added.
India have been the team to beat after they topped Group A, which had New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
They then beat Australia in the first semifinal.
New Zealand, led by Mitchell Santner, lost the last group game to India by 44 runs before they beat South Africa in the second semifinal in Lahore.
Kotak said the previous result between the two teams will have no bearing on their mindset going into the final.
“That depends how the New Zealand team thinks, but I think we should not think that,” said Kotak.
“We should just try and turn up and play a good game of cricket because there is no use thinking about the last match.”
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said they are not too worried about India’s advantage.
“I mean, look, the decision around that’s out of our hands,” said Stead.
“So, it’s not something we worry about too much. India have got to play all their games here in Dubai. But as you said, we have had a game here and we’ll learn very quickly from that experience there as well.”
“And if we’re good enough to beat India on Sunday, then I’m sure we’ll be very, very happy,” he added.


Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge
Updated 06 November 2025

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge
  • Barcelona found their equalizer in the 77th minute when Yamal lifted a cross into the box and defender Seys headed the ball into his own net when trying to clear

BRUGES, Belgium: Barcelona fought back three times to snatch a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday, equalising for the final time late in the game with an own goal from 20-year-old Belgium defender Joaquin Seys.
Barcelona are now 11th in the standings on seven points from four matches while Club Brugge sit 22nd on four points, with both teams still in the hunt for qualification.
In a thriller at Brugge’s Jan Breydel Stadium, the home side opened the scoring through Nicolo Tresoldi in the sixth minute, after a quick counter by Carlos Forbs that exposed the vulnerability of Barcelona’s high defense.
The 21-year-old jet-heeled Portuguese forward controlled a long ball in his stride to beat the offside trap up the right channel before bursting into the box and crossing low for Tresoldi to score with a tidy finish past the goalkeeper.
Barcelona hit right back with Ferran Torres from close range two minutes later but Brugge regained the lead in the 17th minute with Forbs scoring after another quick counter.
In an end-to-end encounter with both sides creating several chances, Jules Kounde struck the crossbar in the 27th minute as Barcelona tried to find the equalizer, while Ferran Torres missed from close range right before the break.

FRANTIC FINALE
Barcelona keeper Wojciech Szczesny made a stunning save early in the second half when Seys entered the penalty box in a counter-attack and struck a bullet shot from close range that the veteran Polish keeper blocked away brilliantly.
Barca defender Eric Garcia almost scored in the 59th minute with a thunderous strike from long range that exploded off the crossbar but it was teenager Lamine Yamal who scored a brilliant individual goal one minute later to level the match again. However, it took Club Brugge only two minutes to get back the lead, with Forbs scoring from another counter-attack, beating Barcelona’s high defense again for the umpteenth time before chipping a tidy finish round Szczesny into the net.
Barcelona found their equalizer in the 77th minute when Yamal lifted a cross into the box and defender Seys headed the ball into his own net when trying to clear.
There was more drama as Brugge thought they had scored the winner in added time through Romeo Vermant, thanks to what looked to have been a massive blunder by Szczesny. But the VAR video review ruled out the goal as the forward fouled the keeper in his effort to recover the ball, helping Barca rescue a point.
“They have created a lot of danger on the counter-attack and we should have done much better everywhere,” a visibly frustrated Ferran Torres told Movistar Plus.
“It seemed like that with two passes they were already in our box. We have to find ways to improve. The team reacted well, we had a lot of chances. But when you’re behind... It’s tough.”