File photo of Mitchell Starc© BCCI/Sportzpics
Did India really have an advantage by playing all of their games in Dubai over the course of the ICC Champions Trophy? Opinions on the topic are divided, with different schools of thoughts fighting against each other. While there’s no denying that India’s campaign was the easiest from the logistical point of view, Dubai still wasn’t the team’s home ground, offering challenges that Rohit Sharma’s men weren’t used to. Sharing his opinion on the topic, Australia pacer Mitchell Starc, who wasn’t a part of his team’s Champions Trophy squad, feels India did get obvious benefit of playing all their games there (Dubai).” But, there’s a lot more to it than what meets the eye.
Starc refused to term the ‘Dubai situation’ an advantage for the Indian team, saying other cricketers have had the previlige of playing franchise leagues all across the world, but that’s not the case with Indian players.
“I’m not sure it is an advantage per se because as cricketers we have got all the opportunities to play all franchises in the world, but the Indian guys can only play in the IPL. So, I don’t think you can sit on that because you have got guys who play across five to six different franchise leagues a year So, even they are getting the exposure to white-ball cricket,” Starc said on Fanatics TV.
On Team India’s Champions Trophy triumph, Starc said that he wasn’t surprised, having seen Varun Chakravarthy play from closed quarters when the two shared the Kolkata Knight Riders dressing room last year in the Indian Premier League.
“Not surprised that India won. I’ll be honest here, I did not watch a single ball. I’m not sure I watched much of the Champions Trophy at all. Just bits and pieces of the Aussie games. I played with Chakaravarthy with KKR last season, he is a huge talent, an interesting bowler. Now whether they are the best white-ball team ever? The Indian fans will say yes, the Australian fans will probably say no,” Starc added.
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