<p>Dubai: It’s been a little over two months since the schedule for the Champions Trophy was announced – on December 24. It entailed nine league matches in Pakistan, the tournament hosts, with the remaining three, involving India, to be staged in Dubai after the Indian government refused permission for its team to travel across the border. </p><p>The first semifinal, irrespective of whether India made it or not, was pencilled in for Dubai on March 4, with the March 9 final too in Dubai if India reached the title round and in Lahore if Rohit Sharma’s men weren’t one of the finalists.</p>.<p>Even at that point, it was clear that this wasn’t the ideal scenario, but that the best possible compromise had been arrived at under the circumstances. Tellingly, at that stage and until the last week or so, there wasn’t so much as a murmur on how this scheduling conferred on India an unfair advantage not necessarily of the team’s making.</p>.Shreyas Iyer on a higher pedestal now.<p>The dynamics have since changed and influential voices, primarily but not exclusively from already-eliminated England, have panned the International Cricket Council for facilitating an easier path for India compared to the rest of the field.</p>.<p>Is there merit in the logic that India have an edge because they will play all four – and potentially five – matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium? Definitely yes. One of the bigger challenges of a multi-team event is adapting to different conditions at short notice. What you get in Karachi, nominally, may not be the same as what is on offer in Rawalpindi or Lahore, though evidence suggests that in Pakistan, shirtfronts are the norm. India don’t have to second-guess what they will be confronted with, because it is unlikely that different pitches on the same square at the same venue will play differently.</p>.<p>Familiarity with surfaces doesn’t, however, automatically translate to comfort. If anything, the slow tracks here aren’t exactly designed to encourage India’s attacking brand of batsmanship. Over the last two and a half years, India have redefined their approach to limited-overs batting which, like England’s vaunted but misfiring Bazball, revolves around all-out aggression. The Dubai pitches haven’t allowed that. To their credit, India have recalibrated their mindsets, set ego aside and addressed the demands of the situation – with the exception of their captain, who has striven to seize the initiative with the ball at its hardest and with the field restrictions in play at the start of the innings.</p>.<p>By losing tosses against Bangladesh and Pakistan, India have had to bat in the second, more demanding half when, under lights, the ball has come on even slower than during the first innings. If India had the option, one suspects decks of this nature will be very low on their priority list. But thus far, they have played extremely well with the cards they have been dealt with. Unlike Pakistan, for instance, for whom the DICS was one of their home grounds for nearly a decade when top teams refrained from touring Pakistan following the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.</p>.<p>India have been spared constant inter-city (and country) travel, which is a massive plus undoubtedly because post-match day travel can be as draining as the match itself. But it can’t be overlooked that at the T20 World Cup last year when they set tent in New York, Lauderhill, Bridgetown, North Sound, Gros Islet, Providence and again in Bridgetown, India went through the tournament unbeaten despite playing their three Super Eights matches in three different islands in five days.</p>.<p>Foreknowledge and sustained first-hand taste of conditions is no guarantee for success, otherwise a home ODI World Cup triumph wouldn’t have taken 36 years in coming (when India lifted the trophy in 2011). Without disputing the fact that India are better off in the hybrid landscape than the rest, it won’t be out of place to admire the quality of cricket they have showcased thus far, either.</p>
<p>Dubai: It’s been a little over two months since the schedule for the Champions Trophy was announced – on December 24. It entailed nine league matches in Pakistan, the tournament hosts, with the remaining three, involving India, to be staged in Dubai after the Indian government refused permission for its team to travel across the border. </p><p>The first semifinal, irrespective of whether India made it or not, was pencilled in for Dubai on March 4, with the March 9 final too in Dubai if India reached the title round and in Lahore if Rohit Sharma’s men weren’t one of the finalists.</p>.<p>Even at that point, it was clear that this wasn’t the ideal scenario, but that the best possible compromise had been arrived at under the circumstances. Tellingly, at that stage and until the last week or so, there wasn’t so much as a murmur on how this scheduling conferred on India an unfair advantage not necessarily of the team’s making.</p>.Shreyas Iyer on a higher pedestal now.<p>The dynamics have since changed and influential voices, primarily but not exclusively from already-eliminated England, have panned the International Cricket Council for facilitating an easier path for India compared to the rest of the field.</p>.<p>Is there merit in the logic that India have an edge because they will play all four – and potentially five – matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium? Definitely yes. One of the bigger challenges of a multi-team event is adapting to different conditions at short notice. What you get in Karachi, nominally, may not be the same as what is on offer in Rawalpindi or Lahore, though evidence suggests that in Pakistan, shirtfronts are the norm. India don’t have to second-guess what they will be confronted with, because it is unlikely that different pitches on the same square at the same venue will play differently.</p>.<p>Familiarity with surfaces doesn’t, however, automatically translate to comfort. If anything, the slow tracks here aren’t exactly designed to encourage India’s attacking brand of batsmanship. Over the last two and a half years, India have redefined their approach to limited-overs batting which, like England’s vaunted but misfiring Bazball, revolves around all-out aggression. The Dubai pitches haven’t allowed that. To their credit, India have recalibrated their mindsets, set ego aside and addressed the demands of the situation – with the exception of their captain, who has striven to seize the initiative with the ball at its hardest and with the field restrictions in play at the start of the innings.</p>.<p>By losing tosses against Bangladesh and Pakistan, India have had to bat in the second, more demanding half when, under lights, the ball has come on even slower than during the first innings. If India had the option, one suspects decks of this nature will be very low on their priority list. But thus far, they have played extremely well with the cards they have been dealt with. Unlike Pakistan, for instance, for whom the DICS was one of their home grounds for nearly a decade when top teams refrained from touring Pakistan following the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.</p>.<p>India have been spared constant inter-city (and country) travel, which is a massive plus undoubtedly because post-match day travel can be as draining as the match itself. But it can’t be overlooked that at the T20 World Cup last year when they set tent in New York, Lauderhill, Bridgetown, North Sound, Gros Islet, Providence and again in Bridgetown, India went through the tournament unbeaten despite playing their three Super Eights matches in three different islands in five days.</p>.<p>Foreknowledge and sustained first-hand taste of conditions is no guarantee for success, otherwise a home ODI World Cup triumph wouldn’t have taken 36 years in coming (when India lifted the trophy in 2011). Without disputing the fact that India are better off in the hybrid landscape than the rest, it won’t be out of place to admire the quality of cricket they have showcased thus far, either.</p>