India’s seemingly flawless run at the recently concluded Champions Trophy was attributed to the former and current players in part to the ‘advantage’ of remaining at a single venue and not having to travel, unlike the rest of the traveling teams. The tournament host Pakistan, in line with the geopolitical tensions, did not send the Indian team there for the tournament and hence the Hybrid Model, making Rohit Sharma’s men play all their matches in Dubai.
All teams apart from India, however, toured Pakistan, where three venues hosted their matches. Group A teams had to fly to Dubai from Pakistan because matches were held for Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh against India.
The South African and Australian teams have to camp in Dubai because of the uncertainty of the semifinal matchups. With India’s win over New Zealand in the last Group A match-up, South Africa had to make a return flight back to Pakistan for a second semifinal in the shortest period of time.
Late entrant in India’s Champions Trophy team, Varun Chakaravarthy took his own subtle dig at the critics on Instagram mentioning “A lot of distance travelled to get a taste of this Cup!!”
Chakaravarthy’s post was seemingly directed at those making claims that India gained from not having to travel between venues and countries.
At the end of the tournament, the 33-year-old could boast of having taken eight wickets in the tournament to tie with Mohammed Shami as India’s leading wicket-taker.
