Mohammed Shami acknowledges that playing in Dubai was advantageous for India amid Gambhir's criticism: 'We were prepared for the conditions'

Mohammed Shami has emphasized the importance of India's familiarity with Dubai's conditions in their successful Champions Trophy campaign. The experienced bowler, instrumental in India's hard-fought four-wicket win against Australia in the semi-finals, acknowledged that playing all their matches at the same venue has been a key advantage for the team.

"It definitely helped us because we know the conditions and the behaviour of the pitch," Shami said, as quoted by AFP, after his 3/48 spell dismantled Australia in the knockout clash. "It is a plus point that you are playing all the matches at one venue."

Interestingly, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir spoke strongly against the notion during his press conference following India's victory on Tuesday. Gambhir lashed out at critics, saying, "There’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven’t practiced here even for a day. We’re practicing at the ICC Academy. And the conditions there and here are 180 degrees different.

"If you look at the wickets there and here, the difference is between the ground and the sky. Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man. They’ve got to grow up. So, I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage or we had planned something like that,” Gambhir said.

India, having refused to travel to Pakistan due to political tensions, have played all their games at the Dubai International Stadium while the rest of the teams have had to shuttle between Pakistan and the UAE.

India have capitalised on their consistency in conditions, remaining unbeaten in Dubai with nine wins in their last ten ODIs at the venue. Last week, both South Africa and Australia had to travel to Dubai over lack of clarity on who among the two would face India in the semis.

India to face winners of SA vs NZ

India will now face either South Africa or New Zealand in the final on Sunday, again in Dubai, with the advantage of familiarity firmly in their grasp. With a perfect record in the tournament so far, the team will look to extend their dominance and lift a second-successive ICC title under the leadership of Rohit Sharma.

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