Champions Trophy: India rules, but is cricket becoming an unipolar world?

The ICC Champions Trophy success may have underlined India’s status as the premier white ball side in the game – but questions over the team's so-called ‘home advantage’ refuses to go away. And therein lies the biggest irony about the health of the game of cricket.

India has now won 22 of the last 23 completed matches in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments with the lone defeat coming in the last three ICC events in the 50-overs World Cup final against Australia in 2023. ‘’This trophy may not be a compensation for the World Cup but it’s also not a mean achievement,’’ captain Rohit Sharma said at the post-match media briefing in Dubai.

The quality and depth of field in the Indian white ball team, makes it the team to beat. Now that the Big Two -- Sharma and Virat Kohli -- have proven their excellence, and with the captain himself dispelling all rumours of retirement from the ODI format, Team India remains a formidable adversary. In five matches at stake in Dubai, runners-up New Zealand and semi-finalists Australia did manage to create a bit of a flutter, but someone or the other stood up to steer India out of a possible spot of bother.

For example, while Kohli and Sharma are being hailed for finding their mojo on the slow tracks of Dubai, it is the somewhat unheralded Shreyas Iyer who established himself as a pivot in the crucial number four position. Talk about closing in on a tricky chase, the team could also back on heavyweights like a KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya or someone of the calibre of Ravindra Jadeja coming in at number six, seven and eight, respectively.

No other leading team can boast of such an embarrassment of riches which can make up for two teams – with little to choose from – in both white ball formats. They have a change room which can afford to keep a Rishabh Pant in the dugout while the names who missed the cut for the ICC Champions Trophy include the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rituraj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Mohammed Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Still, the allegations of India enjoying an unfair advantage of being overtly familiar with the conditions in Dubai -– something which influenced their choice of five spinners in a 15-member squad -- refuses to go away. While the slow surfaces in Dubai bear enough resemblance with the sub-continent and held the same challenge for India as well as its rivals, the travelling schedule was grossly unfair to teams like New Zealand and South Africa.

 The Kiwis had to travel more than 7000 km – between Pakistan, Dubai, Pakistan and again Dubai for the final. The Proteas, meanwhile, had to arrive in Dubai from Pakistan to be on stand-bye for a day as their semi-final opponents were being decided on the basis of the last league game between India and Kiwis in the other group. They returned to Pakistan and had a quick turnaround time before the semis while Australia had flown in to Dubai from Pakistan for their highly-billed semi-final against India.

The dye was, of course, cast when all the stakeholders had agreed upon the hybrid model after hectic parleys to save the Champions Trophy. India stuck to its stand of not touring hosts Pakistan as part of the government policy insisting on playing games on a neutral venue (read: Dubai), as also the final should they qualify.

The ICC, which had BCCI strongman Jay Shah taking over as chairman from 1 December last year, played ball as hosting the tournament without India was "not an option". It’s an open secret that Indian markets make up for at least 80% of the ICC revenue and a cancellation of the Champions Trophy would have meant depriving the board members of a share of the booty generated from the event.

The increase in the number of men’s events -– be it either a Champions Trophy (brought back from the cold after the 2017 edition), T20I or 50-over World Cup every year until 2031 –- are supposed to be the establishment’s counter to the IPL. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), hosts of the last event, resorted to a kind of brinksmanship by maintaining they would not play India on a neutral ground before agreeing to it and the official fixtures were eventually released 57 days before the tournament.

While PCB may feel shortchanged after the Champions Trophy experience, they can draw solace from the fact that they may end up getting the same advantages during two next ICC events –- the women’s World Cup later this year and the men’s World T20I in 2026. Both are scheduled in India, with Sri Lanka as co-hosts of the men’s event, implying that Pakistan would get the same treatment like their neighbours this time.

In other words, Pakistan would be entitled to the same advantages like India this time but uncertainties -– two venues needed to be lined up for a final –- would remain. It’s not a healthy commentary on the game’s governance and truth be told, the fact that some of the most influential voices in the game have taken such a radical posturing, could only drive a wedge through the fraternity.

Sunil Gavaskar snapped at former England captains Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain last week, saying their salaries largely came from India’s contribution to world cricket. ‘’India’s contribution to global cricket, through TV rights and media revenue, play a major role. They need to understand that their salaries also come from what India brings to the world of cricket,’’ Gavaskar told India Today in an interview.   

Point taken. But the question is: will an unipolar world be any good for the game in the long run?