India’s place all but secured in the Champions Trophy semi-final, Rohit Sharma and his men, impervious thus far, had a field day ramping up crushing wins against neighbours Bangladesh and arch-rivals Pakistan last week in Dubai. India’s last Group game against New Zealand will, in all likelihood, be a mere warm-up for both teams ahead of the knockout stage, should results go their way. After declining to play in Pakistan due to security concerns, India is playing its matches in the Dubai International Stadium under a hybrid model.
However, Australia captain Pat Cummins believes playing all their games in Dubai is an advantage for India. Cummins had chosen to miss the Champions Trophy to be at home for the birth of his second child, daughter Edi, and to rest his niggling ankle injury.
“I think it’s good the tournament can go on, but obviously it gives them (India) a huge advantage playing on the same ground. They already look very strong and they’ve got that obvious benefit of being there each game,” Cummins told Yahoo Sport Australia.
Cummins will jump back into the fray next month as he will captain SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL, which starts on March 22.
Cummins took SRH to the final in last season’s IPL, where they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders.
“It’s been nice to be at home with everything going on, and the ankle rehab is going well, so I’m going to start running and bowling this week. There’s the IPL next month, and then we’ve got the Test World Championship and a tour to the West Indies, so we’re looking towards a lot of things,” Cummins shared after missing the Champions Trophy with his thoughts.
In the absence of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith took the reins of the side, which in their opening game played against arch-rivals England chased 352-an unbeaten 120 (86) from Josh Inglis stands out.
Pat Cummins had a lot of good things to say about the Australian batman who was born in England. “It feels like this was his breakout performance. He’s so dynamic against spin in the middle, but also uses the reverse ramps coming against high-speed bowling. He is all class. He has hundreds in all three formats, and he now gets to contribute to a big event like the Champions Trophy. He’s had to wait for this time, and it’s here. Come Test time, boiling down 15 names to 11 will be hard.”
