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I do not know if the Indian Govt went on record saying that they found the threat perception to be higher for one or two players compared to the rest of the team. As far as I know, it is the govt who does the threat assessment and sports federations abide by it. As it happened, even a compromise alternative of India playing all their matches at Lahore while being based out of Chandigarh (IIRC) was not accepted. If such is the level of misgivings from us, then perhaps one should question whether we should engage with Pakistan at all anywhere? But of course, we do not have all the information and have to go by what the MEA puts out. Even Javal Srinath (match referee) and Nitin Menon (umpire) refused to travel. The former citing 'too much travel' and latter 'personal reasons'. Hence, no Indian in the CT officiating team either. Make of this what you will!



I agree with you that India is safer as an absolute statement. I however think that safety is highly contextual, and things can rapidly change. For example, our very own IPL had to be moved out of the country once because the general elections were underway and the law enforcement machinery threw their hands up, citing their inability to guarantee safety. One of our own former PM was assassinated in India because of a conflict which was happening in Sri Lanka. I do not recall the Indian team refusing to tour Sri Lanka in the 90s (we did two tours even though Australia and WI refused to travel to Lanka for the 96 WC) As you have correctly apprehended, the forthcoming Asia Cup, will likely be held in SL/Dubai even though India has hosting rights, simply because now Pakistan will refuse to travel.
All this is resulting in Dubai hosting more of India fixtures that it normally would have. Hope the general income level of this country also rises to meet this cricketing inflation, for the sake of domestic fans!



If I were to see this from a neutral POV, we were better off not participating. I would not want to watch if this sham was perpetrated on us. But of course, money has the final say. So far, this is working out great for our establishment.


Great to see teams like Vidarbha and Kerala come up the ranks. Back in the day, the only name that used to come up the ranks from Kerala was that of the leggie Ananthapadmanabhan. How far the team has come figuring regularly in the last 4 stages of Ranji. They would be ruing the fact that they snubbed Karun Nair though, who wanted to turn out for Kerala after losing his spot in the Karnataka XI.

Vidarbha are the Ranji Trophy champions 2025 and it's not easy to win Ranji titles.

It's their third title, and the first since 2018-19, when they won back-to-back. The ghosts of the previous season, where they were beaten by Mumbai, have been put to bed.

Well played, Vidarbha! Well done Akshay Wadkar & co. Earlier it was Faiz fazal to grab the trophy for Vidarbha, probably among the most unlucky player who never got enough opportunities to play for India, really sad sad state of affairs when deserving guys don't get the chances they demand, and the whole world knows his replacement " Shikhar Dhawan".

Good habits ingrained through Chandrakant Pandit are paying the dividends regularly.

Hard luck for first timers Kerala in the finals, they made some basic cricketing errors, else they would have been on top after the first innings.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...-cricket-score

Meanwhile captain continues his astounding form. I hope the next two games are the last of we see of him in Indian colors.

Kohli also departs albeit to a stunning catch.

I read this good article in Cricinfo, it asked a valid pertinent question, everybody in the world knew if Pakistan hosts means India wont travel.

Pakistan was awarded the Champions trophy in 2021, everybody(ICC, PCB and BCCI) had good enough time to sort this out. ICC knew India won't travel why wait until the last moment. They were afraid of revenue loss, which they couldn't afford and just praying some miracle would happen.

All those saying it is unfair, in 1996 England & Australia started this by boycotting Srilanka, we are just going one level further.

New Zealand have bowled very well to restrict India to 229/7 in 48 so far. They also understand the Indian lineup well and bring in Santner, Mitchell who usually do very well against us :)

It may actually be a good thing if India lose to NZ, then we meet South Africa in the semis?

Correction, NZ fielded brilliantly.

Aap ke muh mein ghee shakkar :thumbs up

Surprised to find Shami playing today. According to the news report, he was supposed to be rested in today's match. During the game against Pakistan, Shami received treatment on his right leg from the physios after bowling the third over.

He was out of the national team for more than a year due to injury. Maybe he is still recovering?

Is it a wise decision to play him in today's match, or should we have given him a rest so that he can recover for the next important matches?

I see an India loss on the way, New Zealand have a good batting lineup and batting under the lights seems to be easier too, Even in the semis neither Australia nor South Africa are going to be easy, unless South Africa choke in the knockouts like they usually do. It looks like despite the advantages India have, it won't be them in the finals, let alone winning the whole thing.

To be fair, India didn't have it easy against Bangladesh and when faced with quality opposition, either our batsmen or our bowlers are under pressure and can't seem to tackle that. Moreover, New Zealand has been outstanding all around, and so too South Africa, Australia despite a depleted lineup still poses a serious threat in ICC tournaments and it will be an existing semi and final clash for sure!

I hope we win the CT and allow Ro Ko to retire on a high. Rohit has his days numbered for sure. It feels like these two are playing ODIs only to be relevant and earn money from endorsement. I don't wish to sound too cynical however it is just my personal perception.

First of all, appreciating one does not mean denigrating another. That said, the arguments were really cogent and potent, so much so that a bystander's appreciation seemed to have riled you up. As for value? Well, it indicates to most that there is someone who found the debate interesting.

My view? Anyone who believes in conspiracy theories should at least either back them up or state that up front. Let's get back to cricket.

A CT win will only cement RoKo's place in the XI till ODI WC 2027. Brohit might still retire before that owing to his fitness, but Kohli can continue if he keeps scoring hundreds in ICC Championships.

PS: India win. Clinical spin performance. Varun should be a sure shot selection for the SF now. :D
We face the Aussies now... Hope we don't buckle under pressure. We've never won a SF or a Final against them in an ICC tournament.

Well, India have won against their nemesis of yore in ICC tournaments but to what end effect? Will playing the Aussies with their depleted pace attack be an advantage for India? I don't think the Australian team came to the CT thinking they would go all the way but they play like a different beats whenever something is on the line. I think it will be the Aussie batting against India's bowling that will be the key match up.
Another side note, we were attacking the ball on the field tonight but were definitely behind's NZ's brilliance. A couple of missed catches as well. KL Rahul didn't seem to be having a great time behind the stumps as well.

Well we have to face aussies at some point and bury the ghost of past, and better to meet them in Seni finals rather in finals. Juicy matchup, hopefully captain steps up in the game.

Good to get one pass the Kiwis, they are as much a threat as Aussie and this win is a good booster.

This is the crux of the matter. The decision to not travel to Pakistan to play cricket was a political one, Pakistan offering foolproof security and other teams considering Pakistan safe enough are besides the point. BCCI cannot overrule the Indian Govt. and send our team to Pakistan. Hence they went with the most viable option and decided to play India's matches in a neutral country.

BCCI with it's clout could have easily had the ICC move the entire tournament to a different country but they did not pursue it. BCCI could also have blocked PCB's bid to host the tournament as well when it was being decided but they didn't do that either. The revenue from champions trophy is important to Pakistan and the BCCI has (within the constraints) cooperated to the extent possible so that PCB gets some money. If India had decided to just pull out of the tournament, that too would have had unfavourable financial implications for the ICC as well as PCB.

This is the reality and even the Pakistan Cricket Board knows it. I'm not going into the political aspects of what we should or should not do wrt to Pakistan. (And if I'm not wrong, it really should not be discussed according to forum rules?)

Anyway, all this is in the truest cricketing tradition/roots. Remember as kids, there was always one rich kid in the neighborhood who owned the bat? Everything had to be done according to what he wanted. The game started when he arrived, it stopped when his mom called him back home, batting twice even though out, won't be allowed to play if you weren't friends with him. We learned to negotiate and play with the guy, because otherwise there was no game. (But yes, when the chance came, when someone else got a bat, that guy found himself not so popular anymore! :))

And purely from a sport/cricket aspect, not having to travel, or having to travel a shorter distance is an advantage. This affects other teams as well.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/c...-final-1475641

"Due to tangled scheduling, both Australia and South Africa had already flown to Dubai, with an ICC official saying the decision had been taken to allow the side that plays the semi-final in Dubai (Australia in this case) on March 4 the maximum time to prepare for that contest. However, it means South Africa find themselves in the sub-optimal position of having flown from Pakistan to Dubai recently, only to return to Pakistan soon after."

"New Zealand are set to take an early-morning flight to Lahore from Dubai on Monday while South Africa will fly back to Pakistan later in the day after having spent around 36 hours in Dubai."

""Yeah...we will leave [Dubai] at 12.30 or 1 o'clock," New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said at the post-match presentation. "We get there and we can rest up and train and be ready to go.""

We did win 1 semi final and 3 Quarter finals against Australia in ICC events. Yes when it comes to ICC tournaments, we tend to buckle under pressure. I hope we will win this time.

ICC T20 World Cup 2007 - Semi finals
ODI World Cup 2011 - Quarter finals
ICC Champions Trophy 1998 - Quarter finals
ICC Champions Trophy 2000 - Quarter finals