'This is Dubai, not our home': Rohit Sharma to experts accusing India of 'venue advantage' in Champions Trophy

Rohit Sharma counters critics on pitch 'advantage' taunts in Champions Trophy 2025. (Photo: BCCI)

Rohit Sharma has hit back at the critics questioning that Men in Blue have an 'advantage' in the Champions Trophy because they are playing all their games in Dubai. The India captain said the venue in Dubai is not the team's home ground and the pitches have thrown up different challenges to his side.

Many former cricketers from Pakistan, Australia and England believe India staying in Dubai gives them an advantage.

"Every time, the pitch is giving you different challenges. The three matches that we played here, the pitch has behaved differently. This is not our home, this is Dubai. We don't play so many matches here, and this is new for us too," Rohit said during the pre-match press meet ahead of the semifinal against Australia.

Rohit also expressed how his team need to adapt to the pitch conditions quickly in the last-four clash against Australia.

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"There are four or five surfaces that are being used here. See, I don't know which pitch is going to be played in the semifinals. But whatever happens, we will have to adapt and see what is happening and what is not. And we will play on that," he added.

Rohit also gave example of India's last Group A match against New Zealand on Sunday to emphasize his point.

"We saw that when the (New Zealand) bowlers were bowling, it was swinging a little bit. We did not see it in the first two games when our bowlers were bowling. In the last game, we did not get to see that much spin, today there was a bit of it. So, there are different things happening on every surface. So, it is not like we know what is going to happen on this pitch and what is not going to happen," he said.

The Mumbaikar said a pitch with some assistance for the bowlers would make the contest all the more exciting.

"If there is something in it for the bowlers as well, that makes it very, very interesting. I am one for it. When you have surfaces which are challenging, whether it's with spin or with the seam, you want to have that. You want a good contest," he said.

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Rohit justified the decision to include five spinners in India's squad for the marquee event, explaining that they had some insight into the pitch conditions in Dubai after closely monitoring the ILT20.

"Looking at the surface here, hearing about what has happened in Dubai in the past two months, we somehow kind of knew that surfaces are going to be slow. We were watching ILT20 which was played here and we thought the slower bowlers will be a lot more helpful here."

"If need an extra batter then anyway Rishabh (Pant) is there. So, we thought with an extra option of the spin, there is always a chance that we can play those guys," he said.

Rohit also revealed how reaching Dubai in advance helped his side adapt to the conditions there quickly.

"It was important for us to adapt quickly to these conditions. Luckily, we came here five or six days before, we had good training sessions and the pitches at the (ICC) Academy were very much similar to what we are going to get here.

"So, the adaptation is the key when you play on any surface and we adapted pretty well in all three games," he added.