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Members of the India team during their Champions Trophy group stage match against New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday. Picture: Surjeet Yadav/MB Media/Getty Images
It’s not unusual for countries to either be banned from or withdraw themselves from major sporting events.
What is unusual is for countries to demand the entire structure of an event be changed to suit them, and only them.
At the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, seven of the eight teams are having to travel between venues and adapt to different conditions.
India, however, have had the privilege of staying in Dubai throughout the tournament, due to political unrest between India and Pakistan.
This has caused multiple problems for the other teams in the tournament.
South Africa, for example, were not aware which semifinal they would be playing this week until the last group match ended on Sunday night.
So, the Proteas had to travel from Karachi to Dubai on Sunday, in order to avoid travelling the day before a potential match on Tuesday.
However, with India winning the last group game at the weekend, it was confirmed the Proteas would be playing against New Zealand in Lahore on Wednesday.
Therefore, on Monday, they had to board another plane and head back to Pakistan in order to prepare for their playoff clash.
Neither of their flights on Sunday or Monday would have been necessary if India were playing their matches in Pakistan.
There is no doubt that the decision to allow India to play in Dubai has given them an unfair advantage over the other seven sides in the competition.
Since the tournament started, the SA team have had to travel from Karachi to Rawalpindi to Karachi to Dubai to Lahore (a total distance of more than 5,400km).
India’s players, meanwhile, have stayed at the same hotel in the same city, playing in the same conditions.
No team at a major tournament should ever be given such a significant advantage over their opposition.
And yes, perhaps the security concerns are valid, but if India didn’t want to play in Pakistan, they should have withdrawn from the tournament.
As much as the International Cricket Council relies on India, particularly from a financial point of view, the global body should also not be buckling this much to keep one country happy.
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