After Mitchell Starc, now former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath has come out to defend Team India. The Aussie pace legend has completely backed the Indian Cricket Team saying the Men in Blue gained no unfair advantage in the ICC Champions Trophy.
English pundits and Aussie captain Pat Cummins claimed India had an unfair advantage in the tournament as they had all their matches in Dubai. Pakistan were the hosts of the tournament, but since India refused to travel to their rival nation, Rohit Sharma and Co played all their 5 games including the finals in Dubai.
No Unfair advantage
“It is the way it is. India does not travel to Pakistan anymore. There was only one other thing — the matches had to be played in Dubai. You have to give credit to India, they played to the conditions. They know how to play on spinning tracks. I do not think that they had an unfair advantage. It is like saying there is an unfair advantage if India play all their matches in India, if Australia play all their matches in Australia,” McGrath told the Times of India.
Glenn McGrath also went on to praise Virat Kohli who roared back into form. He also cited how India managed to beat Australia in the semi-finals. “They were the team to beat and they played well. Virat Kohli came back to form, as did the other guys. Australia had their chances in the semifinal, obviously we had a few of our bowlers who were out. The pitches took spin and India played well,” he added.
Previously, Mitchell Starc too backed India. He claimed that Indian players only get to play in IPL, which takes place in India. This means, unlike others, the Indian players don’t get the exposure of playing in different venues.
“I’m not sure it is an advantage per se because as cricketers we have got all the opportunities to play all franchises in the world, but the Indian guys can only play in the IPL. So, I don’t think you can sit on that because you have got guys who play across five to six different franchise leagues a year So, even they are getting the exposure to white-ball cricket,” Starc said on Fanatics TV.
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