Team India and BCCI Accused in ICC's Champions Trophy Controversy by Former Pakistani Pacer: 'Some Teams Win Through Strategic Scheduling'

Taking to social media, Junaid highlighted the significant differences in travel distances among the three participating teams - India, New Zealand, and South Africa. He pointed out that the Proteas, who were knocked out in the semifinals earlier this week, had traveled 3286 kilometers, including a futile trip to Dubai and back to Pakistan in less than 12 hours amidst uncertainty over their semifinal match. New Zealand, on the other hand, played across all four venues, covering a total distance of 7150 kilometers. In contrast, the Indian team did not have to travel at all as they played all their matches in Dubai. #CricketTravelDistances #TeamJourneys

"Distance travelled between matches in Champions Trophy 2025: New Zealand: 7,150 KM, South Africa: 3,286 KM, India: 0 KM. Some teams win by skill, some win by scheduling...," he tweeted.

Advantage India?

Geopolitical reasons restricted the Indian team's travel to Pakistan for the ICC tournament. This forced the ICC to name the UAE as the neutral venue for all India's matches. But amid chaos over scheduling, India have been accused of gaining an advantage by playing all their matches at one venue, while the rest of the teams had to travel between more than two cities.

However, India head coach Gautam Gambhir dismissed the claim.

"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," he said after India's win against Australia in the semifinal.

"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."

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