New Zealand will face India in the last league stage game in the Champions Trophy 2025. Glenn Phillips has played down the claims of India getting an advantage of playing their games at a single venue in Dubai, with other teams having to travel.
New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips has played down the claims of India getting an advantage of playing on at one venue in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025. With India playing their games only at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the cricket fraternity has called the Men in Blue of getting an upper hand over the other teams.
South Africa cricketer Rassie van der Dussen recently said that one “don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know” that India have an advantage of training and playing at one place. “It’s definitely an advantage. I saw that Pakistan was commenting about it, but it’s definitely an advantage. If you can stay in one place, stay in one hotel, practice in the same facilities, play in the same stadium, on the same pitches every time, it’s definitely an advantage,” van der Dussen said in Karachi.
New Zealand all-rounder Phillips has turned down the claims, saying that his team is not coming with an excuse mindset. “For us there’s no focus on anything like that. Obviously, the tournament draw is what it is. We have a no-excuse mindset to be able to come out to a tournament,” Phillips said during the pre-match press meet on the eve of the game.
“You’ve dealt the hand that you’ve dealt, and India has been dealt a hand. We’re never going to complain about what we get and we’ll just do the best of what we’ve got,” he added.
Phillips is aware of what India bring to the table and said that his team has plans set for the Men in Blue in Dubai conditions, which are helping the spinners. “We have our game plans against India. They’re an incredibly strong side, and they pretty much have all their bases covered. So, for us, I guess it’s about looking at the pitches and the results that have just gone by recently.
“Obviously it’s (the DICS pitch) playing a little bit slow and there’s obviously a good deal of turn. So, I think it’s going to be an interesting match-up. They’ve got three quality spinners and we have a lot of all-rounders as well.
“So, we do have a lot of bases covered regardless of the situation that we’re going to be facing against,” he added.
