Australia captain Pat Cummins was unable to join the team for the Champions Trophy in India-event-turned-Championship, as he is sinfully hampered by injury.
In his absence, the ODI World champions were represented by Steve Smith for the record chase, against the Englishmen, during the Ashes-off.
The ICC Hybrid Model allowed for the 2025 Champions Trophy to be played, with India’s matches taking place in Dubai. According to an agreement, tif any tournaments are conducted on global forums, the BCCI, PCB and ICC have agreed not to allow each other’s teams into each other’s countries.
India will play in Dubai for all their matches including the semifinal and the final, should they advance to those stages; while other nations played in a range of venues between Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi.
Cummins believes that having a single venue, where all major games are being hosted, is a massive advantage for Rohit Sharma’s crew.
“It’s good the competition is on, but it certainly gives an advantage to have everyone play on the same ground. They already seem rather looked upon favorably in having that rather obvious advantage of playing all their games there,” Yahoo Australia quoted Cummins stating.
