Ground reality!

There is a debate in the media whether the Champions Trophy has been laid out perfectly for Team India be it by accident or design Playing all their matches at one venue with minimum travel a long gap between Game Two and Game Three in the league phase semifinal and the final if they make it at the same venue where they have played their earlier games mdash India could not have asked for anything better Their rivals on the other hand have been or will be hopping between Pakistan and the UAE be it hosts Pakistan Bangladesh New Zealand or their prospective rivals in the knockout phaseGeopolitical tensionIt can all be attributed to the geopolitical relations between India and Pakistan The irony of the whole thing is that despite the deep chasm due to political reasons neither can afford not to play the other in an ICC tournament Thus a compromise had been worked outPlaying ICC events in multiple countries is nothing new but it is probably the first time that one team has been given preferential treatment It has rankled a few teams but they have made only guarded remarks against it However former England captain Michael Atherton was quite blatant when he told Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports Podcast ldquoTo me itrsquos a hardtoquantify advantage but an undeniable advantage Theyrsquore playing at just one venue Therefore the selection you know can focus in on the conditions in Dubai And obviously they know where theyrsquore playing their semifinal and the final 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 advantagerdquoThe strongest criticism came from former England fast bowler Jonathan Agnew ldquoI feel very uncomfortable about the way that India is being treated at the momentrdquo Agnew told ABC Sport ldquoThis is wrong If yoursquore going to play an international tournament you canrsquot pick and choose where you play and where yoursquore not going to playrdquoBut the fact remains that in the past there have been ICC tournaments played in a single country and very rarely have the hosts gone on to win the crown despite being in sync with the conditions England hosted the first three ODI World Cups in 1975 1979 and 1983 yet they could not win any of them After winning the title in 1983 at Lordrsquos India exited at the semifinal stage at home in 1987 There are numerous such instances over the years where the hosts have found the going too hot Thus winning and losing have more to do with how strong the teams are at that time and how well they are performing before the big eventIndiarsquos NZ challengeAs we have known in cricket just appearing at the venue does not guarantee a win India are bound to face a big challenge when they take on New Zealand in the last league match on Sunday especially after the way the Kiwis had outplayed India in the Test series back home last year on spinning tracks There is no guarantee that India will go on to win the semifinal despite having the socalled advantage of playing in Dubai Shreyas Iyer was candid when asked about Dubai being an advantage for India After the victory over Pakistan he said ldquoAt the end of the day itrsquos a neutral venue itrsquos a challenge for both the teams We donrsquot come and play in Dubai much eitherrdquoThe fact of the matter is that India are a powerhouse in cricket both in terms of the strength of the team and the revenue generated by them for the International Cricket Council coffers Thus whenever an ICC event is to be staged either in India or Pakistan a compromise will have to be worked out even if it gives one of them an advantage Pakistan have already told the ICC that they will not play their tournament matches in India and a compromise must be worked out with their venues being either in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka