‘Grow up. What undue advantage?’ Gautam Gambhir’s fiery reply to ‘perpetual cribbers’ over repeated Dubai accusation

After India made the final on Tuesday in the Champions Trophy, with a thrilling win against Australia in the semifinal, head coach Gautam Gambhir had a word or two to say against the criticism the team has faced for playing all their matches at the same venue – Dubai. Calling them “perpetual cribbers,” Gambhir lashed out at the critics in a fiery post-match presser at the Dubai International Stadium.

India played all their Champions Trophy game after they refused to travel to Pakistan, the nominal hosts of the eight-team tournament, over political and security reasons. While others had to travel across the three venues in Pakistan, few even between two countries, India settled in Dubai, where they won all four matches thus far to reach the final.

South Africa, who will take on New Zealand in the tournament’s second semifinal, was forced to travel to Dubai amid uncertainty over who they would face in the semifinal and where. Upon India finishing top of Group A, the Proteas travelled back to Pakistan again for their semifinal in Lahore. On the contrary, India knew where they would be playing in the first semifinal before the tournament even started if they got that far.

Former England cricketers Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton were among the first to claim that the scheduling of the Champions Trophy handed India an undeniable advantage. Among the active players, South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen and Australia’s Pat Cummins, who missed the tournament, claimed the same.

Gambhir hits back at ‘Dubai’ narrative

The India head coach was not directly asked about the criticisms aimed at the team during the press conference after the win against Australia. The reporter instead wanted to pick Gambhir’s brain on the decision to play four spinners on the Dubai track and captain Rohit Sharma’s form. After claiming that India would have picked the same team had they played in Pakistan, the former India opener lashed out at the repeated accusations against India over having an advantage in Dubai.

“First of all, this is as neutral a venue for us as it is for any other team,” an agitated Gambhir said. “We have not played here. I don’t remember which tournament we played in this stadium last. And in fact, we didn’t plan anything like that. The plan was that if you pick two front-line spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere, we would have picked two front-line spinners because it was a competition on the subcontinent.”

And there’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven’t practised here even for a day. We’re practising at the ICC Academy. If you look at the wickets there and here, the difference is between the ground and the sky. Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man. They’ve got to grow up. So, I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage or we had planned something like that.”

India will now await the result of the second semifinal on Wednesday as they gear up for the summit clash in Dubai on Sunday.