South Africa have one final group stage game left in the ongoing Champions Trophy. If they win it, they will soar to the top of the table with five points, scampering through to the semi-finals. If they lose it, they’ll still very probably make it to the next stage, but as second-place holders instead. Wherever they end up, the Proteas would want to avoid facing India in the knockout game.
And this has nothing to do with India’s invincibility or South Africa’s PTSD from the T20 World Cup final last year. The issue is that whoever draws India in the semi-final will have to fly to Dubai and play them at a venue where India have contested in all of their group stage games. Rassie van der Dussen says it does not take a genius to figure out how that would give India an extra edge.
“It’s definitely an advantage,” van der Dussen said when asked to weigh in on the debate. “I saw that Pakistan was commenting about it, but it’s definitely an advantage. If you can stay in one place, stay in one hotel, practice in the same facilities, play in the same stadium, on the same pitches every time, it’s definitely an advantage.”
The South African batter, however, does not think it will entirely be a walk in the park for India either, who will have the added pressure of outperforming their opposition due to the very reason that gives them the advantage.
“I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to know that. The onus would be on them to use that advantage. In a sense, it puts more pressure on them because whoever is going to play them in the semi or potentially the final is going to go there and the conditions are going to be foreign, but they [India] are going to be used to it. The pressure would be on them to get it right because they have all that knowledge.”
The Champions Trophy was earlier set to follow a hybrid model, wherein India would play all their games, including the knockouts, in Dubai. This decision was taken to break the impasse that transpired after the Indian government refused to send its team to Pakistan.
Rassie van der Dussen is not the only one to have voiced that opinion. Pat Cummmins, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton also expressed the same concerns.
Even if India’s games were spread throughout the United Arab Emirates, they would still have a logistical edge over their opponents. This is exactly the reason why van der Dussen preferred playing the semi-final in Lahore instead.
“If it’s a personal thing, I would say playing in Lahore because it’s just good to bat there. The Dubai pitch is not as high-scoring as the Lahore [pitch], but no, I don’t think it really matters,” the Proteas’ batter said.
“Probably logistically, it will be easier to play in Lahore. You don’t have to go through an international flight and go to Dubai and literally go to another country to play. Lahore is not too far from where we are at the moment [Karachi], so conditions are fairly similar. It’s literally one of those things, we don’t know what’s going to happen until Saturday evening.”
