By Saptarshi Nag
Nothing can be more ridiculous than some of the so called ‘pundits’ citing India’s one venue fixture as one of the reasons behind their success so far in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan and Dubai. From Nasser Hussain to Michael Atherton, from Pat Cummins to Kamran Akmal to Russie van der Dussen it seems like everyone is enjoying this cliched argument. But any sensible man will ask this question first, did India need any particular advantage to crush teams like Pakistan or Bangladesh? Even a side like Afghanistan can beat these fellows on any given day, such is the present status of cricket of these two nations. By the way, did these critics raise this question before India defeated Pakistan? They had the slightest hope that India might be defeated by the Pakis considering the recent doldrums India faced after consecutive defeats against New Zealand and Australia in thelonger version of the game. But when the reverse happened, these critics started coming up with such lame arguments to undermine India’s future prospects in the trophy. Barring Cummins who is undeniably a champion cricketer and who did not cross the limits while talking about the venue advantage of India, the profiles of the others are very interesting. Nasser Hussain and Michael Artherton raised this issue just after their own team was shown the exit door in the utmost shameful manner by the young adult of world cricket- Afghanistan. Instead of talking about where their team is going wrong for the last few years, they picked up an agenda to stay afloat so that they could grab the attention of at least a few viewers. Who else will watch their pathetic and soporific show unless they have some hidden agenda like this? Their white ball captain resigned from the skipper’s job and instead of talking about this disgraceful exit, they are busy elsewhere. Dussen, it appears that still cannot forget the trauma of being defeated by the Indians in the final of that blockbuster T20 World Cup Final a few months ago. So instead of minding his own dwindling form, he is already finding excuses in case they face another defeat against us. Had it been said by someone like their skipper Bavuma, world would have perceived it to be a joke, that is why the Proteas decided to make Dussen utter such stupid and idiotic observation.What more can you expect from these perennial chokers of world cricket?
I am not bothered by what a loser like Kamran Akmal who in his entire tenure as a player for Pakistan could not dispaly anything other than his teeth, forget about his talent. So what he believes should hardly be taken seriously. By the way, have you ever heard of Jonathan Agnew , a former English player who has been most venomous in his criticism of this ‘One venue Advantage’ controversy? Has he contributed anything to cricket? For kind information, this bloke has the highest score of Five ( Yes F I V E) and a bowling average of 93.25 in test matches. He just missed the century by a whisker! His highest score in ODIs is TWO ( Yes T W O) and he has a tally of total 3 wickets with 40 runs apiece average. So what this buffoon feels hardly should bother us or should even be considered for further discussion.
I wonder where these fellows were when the fixture of the Champions Trophy 2025 was announced? Why did not they raise any ruckus then? As I already mentioned, they all were sure of India’s early exit considering their poor run of form. Did India themselves select Dubai as their venue? They simply denied to go to Pakistan. It was the job of Pakistan as the host of the tournament to fix the venues and they could have easily gone for multiple venues for India like Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi which they did not. Unfortunately barely anyone from these ‘pundits’ is talking about this. I personally feel that the flat tracks of Pakistan would have suited us better than the unpredictable track of Dubai. While teams like Australia were making merry chasing a target over 350, India had to be cautious on the capricious Dubai turf which is much more dangerous than the placid ones in Pakistan. It was indeed a challenge for India which they have handled very intelligently and instead of praising their efforts, when some folks are trying to get some media attention by making nonsensical arguments, it is better that we focus on the road ahead for us. Let’s cheer for our Men in Blue and let the critics recover from depression as their teams are shown the exit door.
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