Among the many to talk about India’s unfair advantage are Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, who had an elaborate talk about the Indian team rather than on England, who have endured another abysmal ICC competition.
Chatter about the Indian team has been aplenty throughout the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025 because they play in Dubai only. Many former and current players feel India have an advantage by playing all the matches at the same venue, which helps them quickly get used to the conditions.
While these talks were out even before the tournament’s start, they have gained more noise after India’s two consecutive wins and a spot in the semifinal. Among the many to talk about India’s unfair advantage are Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, who had an elaborate talk about the Indian team rather than on England, who have endured another abysmal ICC competition.
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Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar has hit back, saying they should look at their own backyard before talking about the Indian team. Taking a jibe at the English team on India Today, Gavaskar added English players are in a fragile state – they don’t care about the win.
“I think these are all wise and experienced people. Why don’t you actually look at why your team has not qualified? That’s what I was going to ask you, sir. Rather than constantly focusing on India, are you even looking at your own backyard? Your players are in such a fragile mental state-they don’t seem to care about results as long as they meet certain expectations.”
Adding to his point, Sunil Gavaskar said Hussain and Atherton always moan about the Indian team, which is true. However, he asked India to ignore them and focus on their games.
“All the time, they are moaning – ‘India has got this, India has got that.’ It’s constant. We must just ignore it. Let them keep mourning. We have better things to focus on. That is the kind of attitude you must have.”
It’s unsurprising to see English experts trying to pacify themselves by bringing India into their talks, for their thoughts on the Men in Blue help them sell their content more than anything else. But even if they wanted to downplay India, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton should have been more logical. England also played their first two matches at the same venue (Lahore) and lost both, ending their campaign even before they could reach their final league stage game.
No one uttered anything when India travelled everywhere to play in the World Cup 2023, covering more distance than any other team, because that didn’t fit their agenda. But expect them to babble more on India since England haven’t given them anything fruitful to talk about, or maybe they won’t analyse English performances enough because they don’t care about results, as they have claimed numerous times in the past.
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