Champions Trophy: Former Indian team captain and legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar is furious once again. This time he has silenced those who were raising questions on India’s victory. After India’s victory, the biggest voices of protest have been raised by former England cricketers and experts and Gavaskar silenced them in one of his columns. Sunil Gavaskar has put an end to the ongoing debate on the ‘unfair advantage’ India will get during the Champions Trophy 2025. India played all the matches (including the final) in Dubai due to political tensions with Pakistan, after which many former and current cricketers called it a big advantage for India. However, Gavaskar rejected such claims and put forth his point by giving the example of the England cricket team.
What did Gavaskar say?
Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar, ‘Yes, some people would say that India got the advantage of playing at the same venue and not travelling between matches. However, this decision was taken by the ICC before the tournament started. If anyone had an objection to this, they should have said this before the first ball of the tournament. And if ‘home advantage’ is the reason for victory, then why did England, from where most of the complaints are coming, not win despite hosting ICC tournaments half a dozen times before 2019?
Praise of Rohit Sharma’s captaincy
Gavaskar further said that the real reason for India’s victory was the balance of the team and the good leadership of captain Rohit Sharma. Gavaskar wrote, ‘India won because it had a balanced team. Different players played match-changing roles in different matches of the tournament. The biggest thing was the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, who has equaled MS Dhoni by winning two ICC trophies. Rohit also dismissed the retirement rumours and said that he has not yet decided to retire from this format.
During the Champions Trophy 2025, India decided not to play in Pakistan, after which all their matches were held in Dubai. This led many to allege that India benefited from this as they did not have to travel to different venues and could play all the matches at one place. However, Gavaskar dismissed these allegations as baseless and said that India’s victory was a result of the team’s performance and captaincy.