When the schedule for the Champions Trophy 2025 was announced, there were hardly any noise around the venues. But India’s dominating performance has made other teams and foreign players to raise the issue that shouldn’t have become this big considering everyone knew that India was never going to travel to Pakistan and that Rohit Sharma and Co. will always be playing at a neutral venue.
Tournaments Are Won On Performances – Ashwin ahead of IND vs NZ Final
The ongoing topic that India are being treated differently than other teams was first brought up by English commentators Michael Vaughn and Michael Atherton. South African batters David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen also felt the same after their defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the second semifinal.
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But Ravichandran Ashwin gave a fitting reply to all the critics and cited the example of 2009 Champions Trophy when South Africa, which were the hosts, also played all their matches at the same venue. Ashwin then added that big tournaments are won on performances and not by giving excuses.
“Tournaments are won on the basis of performances, not excuses,” Ashwin highlighted this topic on his Hindi YouTube channel “Ash Ki Baat.”
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“I am laughing when people ask our captain and coach the same question about having an advantage playing in Dubai. In the 2009 Champions Trophy, South Africa played all their games at the same venue and even then they failed to qualify for the knockouts. It was not South Africa’s fault that they didn’t qualify then. Teams qualified only because they play good cricket,” he said.
“India is in the final because they have played solid cricket. No matter what happens in the final, they deserved to be finalists because of the kind of cricket they have played. Please don’t throw mud at our own cricketers because of someone else’s narrative.
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There’s no doubt that India have been head and shoulders above the rest of the team in this tournament. The whole squad is brimming with confidence and that is down to the incredible cricket the team has played in CT 2025 so far. Whatever happens in the IND vs NZ final match, the team winning the tournaments will be lifting the trophy purely on merit and not because of the conditions or anything else.
“I know a Test team that travels to India, loses the series, and then blames it on the pitches. Imagine an Indian cricketer coming out and saying such things if we lost a series overseas. We never do that.
“If India wins this trophy, we will be winning the title back-to-back. Let’s celebrate them. Don’t buy into this narrative.”
