Dubai: It’s unusual to find two semifinalists of a global tournament stationed in the same city unsure of their future travel plans, but that is precisely the situation of Australia and South Africa in the ongoing Champions Trophy.
If you count India and New Zealand, the last-four stage entrants from Group A, then Dubai at present has all the teams scheduled to play in the semifinals.
This scenario has created a vertical divide of opinions among players — former and current — in the world of cricket, and has also forced the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do the tightrope walking.
Australia flew to Dubai from Karachi late Friday night after their match against Afghanistan was washed out, a result that guaranteed them a semifinal berth.
South Africa drubbed England by seven wickets to swell their points tally to five and boarded the Dubai-bound flight as toppers of Group B.
But which of them will stay in Dubai will depend on the result of India’s match against New Zealand on Sunday.
If India win against NZ, then they will top the Group A and will play the Australians, the second placed-team in Group B, in the first semifinal here on Tuesday.
Otherwise, India will face South Africa, the Group B toppers, and Australia will go back to Pakistan to play the second semifinals on Wednesday in Lahore.
“The situation is not really ideal. But then that’s how the draw is, and the rain in Pindi (Rawalpindi) did not help as exactly those two teams got affected by it. On the other hand, they have got an extra day in Dubai to know the conditions,” a source close to the development told PTI.
The rained off match between Australia and South Africa, in fact, added to the delay in determining the group winners.
South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen conceded that India will be more familiar with the conditions but wasn’t ready to place Rohit Sharma’s side in an advantageous position.
“We’ll see how they do against New Zealand because obviously that’s going to determine who we play in the semifinal (in Dubai). But if we play in Dubai and it’s against India, obviously, they’ve had training, so they will be more used to the conditions,” Jansen said during the post-match press conference after South Africa’s match against England.
“But we’ve also played in Dubai, so it’s not something new. We play spin really well. So, I don’t think it’s that much or that too much of an advantage,” he added.
However, Australian skipper Pat Cummins, who is not playing in the Champions Trophy, did not receive the scheduling well, and thought it did give India some head start over others.
If India win their semifinal match on Tuesday, then the second semifinal winner will have to return to Dubai on Thursday (March 6) ahead of the March 9 final.
While it involves less confusion than the current scenario, logistics planning needed some last-minute tweaks even though room has been left for such possible scrambles typical of multi-nation events.
Meanwhile, Australia and South Africa are scheduled to train at the ICC Academy on Sunday.
