DUBAI: India playing all their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai was a pre-tournament decision and the talk of unfair advantage is baseless, the team’s batting coach said on Friday.
Rohit Sharma’s team face New Zealand in the title clash on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium, where India have been unbeaten in four matches.
India refused to tour hosts Pakistan in the eight-nation tournament due to political tensions and were given Dubai as their venue in the United Arab Emirates.
“The draw that happened, it happened before,” batting coach Sitanshu Kotak told reporters. “After India winning four matches, if people feel that there is an advantage, then I don’t know what to say about it.”
The tournament’s tangled schedule, with teams flying in and out of the UAE from Pakistan while India have stayed put, has been hugely controversial.
South Africa batsman David Miller said “it was not an ideal situation” for his team to fly in to Dubai to wait on India’s semifinal opponent and then fly back to Lahore in less than 24 hours.
Even nominal hosts Pakistan had to jump on a jet and fly to Dubai to play India, rather than face them on home soil.
The pitches have been vastly different in the two countries.
Pakistan tracks produced big totals, in contrast to the slow and turning decks of the Dubai stadium.
“End of the day, I think in a game, you have to play good cricket every day when you turn up,” the 52-year-old Kotak said. “So the only thing they (critics) may say is that we play here. But that is how the draw is.”
“So nothing else can happen in that. It is not that after coming here, they changed something and we got an advantage,” he added.
India have been the team to beat after they topped Group A, which had New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
They then beat Australia in the first semifinal.
New Zealand, led by Mitchell Santner, lost the last group game to India by 44 runs before they beat South Africa in the second semifinal in Lahore.
Kotak said the previous result between the two teams will have no bearing on their mindset going into the final.
“That depends how the New Zealand team thinks, but I think we should not think that,” said Kotak.
“We should just try and turn up and play a good game of cricket because there is no use thinking about the last match.”
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said they are not too worried about India’s advantage.
“I mean, look, the decision around that’s out of our hands,” said Stead.
“So, it’s not something we worry about too much. India have got to play all their games here in Dubai. But as you said, we have had a game here and we’ll learn very quickly from that experience there as well.”
“And if we’re good enough to beat India on Sunday, then I’m sure we’ll be very, very happy,” he added.
‘No advantage’ in playing Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, says Indian batting coach
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‘No advantage’ in playing Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, says Indian batting coach
- The tournament’s tangled schedule, forcing teams to travel to Dubai to play India, has become controversial
- New Zealand head coach says his team has played a game in Dubai and will learn quickly from that experience
Australia lead by 82 runs as West Indies’ Test on a knife edge
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: West Indies’ pace attack again exposed the vulnerability of the Australian top-order batting as the tourists stuttered to 92 for four in their second innings at stumps on the second day of the first Test at Kensington Oval on Thursday.
Trailing on first innings by just ten runs after the Caribbean side were dismissed at tea for 190 in reply to the Aussies’ first innings total of 180, the match is balanced on a knife’s edge as Australia lead by 82 runs with six wickets in hand.
Another eventful day when ten wickets fell after 14 tumbled on day one also featured contentious television umpiring decisions which left the West Indies feeling aggrieved.
Travis Head, so often the counter-attacking star for the men from Down Under in all formats of the game, will carry the battle into the third morning with all-rounder Beau Webster after all four West Indies bowlers used in the second innings so far claimed a wicket each.
Wicketless in the first innings, Alzarri Joseph was first to strike in the long final session when he trapped Usman Khawaja lbw.
Shamar Joseph, who set the tone for the bowling effort at the start of the Test the day before, had to endure Sam Konstas being dropped twice in the same over in the slips before the opener’s tortuous innings ended 20 minutes later when he played on to the same bowler.
Jayden Seales added to his five-wicket haul the day before by removing Josh Inglis for the second time in the match when the right-hander was bowled offering no shot.
Australia’s continuing experiment with Cameron Green at number three then suffered another setback when he wafted at medium-pacer Justin Greaves to be taken at first slip.
Earlier, West Indies captain Roston Chase and wicketkeeper Shai Hope held the home side’s innings together with a 67-run stand after they had slipped to 72 for five early on the second morning when debutant Brandon King was bowled for 26 shouldering arms to seamer Josh Hazlewood.
However Chase, in his 50th Test and playing his first match in the traditional format for more than two years, was ruled leg-before to Australian counterpart Pat Cummins for 44 just after lunch by television official Adrian Holdstock even though the available television replays suggested the tall right-hander had edged the ball onto his pads.
Holdstock was again the focus of attention when Hope, on 48, appeared to have been cleanly caught down the leg-side by a diving wicketkeeper Alex Carey to give Webster his second wicket.
Hope seemed equally convinced as he was almost in the players’ pavilion as repeated replays of the dismissal gave a strong indication that the ball had touched the ground as Carey attempted to complete the catch. Holdstock nevertheless upheld the dismissal.
Alzarri Joseph contributed an unbeaten 23 but the innings folded swiftly thereafter with Mitchell Starc finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the innings with three for 65.
“We can only ask the questions,” was Starc’s deadpan reply to his opinion on the dismissals of Chase and Hope.
“That’s what we have the technology for. The questions have to be asked in that direction, not at the players.”
On the state of the match, Starc felt the nature of the pitch is keeping the contest close.
“Throughout the two days it’s shown that if you bowl in the right areas there are enough chances ,” he said.
“Even when the ball got older or was changed it still did some sideways stuff so the bowlers have been in the game throughout so far and that is likely to continue tomorrow.”
Tickets for 2025 World Pool Championship in Jeddah now on sale
- This year’s competition, running from July 21-26, is expected to be the largest in the 35-year history of the event
- 128 of world’s top players, led by reigning champion and world No. 1 Fedor Gorst, will compete for a $1m prize pool
JEDDAH: Tickets for the 2025 World Pool Championship are now on sale.
For the second year in a row, the event is taking take place in Jeddah, from July 21 to 26 at the Green Halls, as part of the Jeddah Season festivities.
Organizers said this year’s competition is expected to be the biggest in the 35-year history of the event, which is also known as the World Nine-ball Championship, with 128 of the world’s top players competing for a $1 million prize pool.
Fans can look forward to top-tier action led by reigning champion and world No. 1 Fedor Gorst, they added. His challengers will include a stellar lineup of former world champions and other top players, including Shane Van Boening, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Joshua Filler, Ko Pin-Yi and Carlo Biado.
In addition, 16 specially invited players from the Kingdom and the wider region will have a chance to compete at the highest level and test themselves against some of the best in the world.
The tournament will run in parallel with the Saudi Junior Championship, as part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to nurture the next generation of sporting talent in line with the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan for national development and diversification.
Visit webook.com for more information about the event and to buy tickets.
Brazil coach tells Neymar to prepare well for World Cup
- “He must prepare well and he has the time to do that,” Ancelotti said
- “He’s a very important player for us regarding the World Cup“
SAO PAULO: New Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti considers Neymar “a very important player” and has urged the injury-prone star “to prepare well” for the 2026 World Cup.
“He must prepare well and he has the time to do that,” the Italian said in an interview with the South American football federation on Thursday.
“He’s a very important player for us regarding the World Cup,” Ancelotti added.
Neymar, 33, extended his contract with Brazilian side Santos to the end of the year this week.
Neymar’s career has been dogged by injury, and he has only played 12 matches in five months for Santos, scoring three goals.
Brazil’s top scorer with 79 goals was missing from Ancelotti’s first squad at the end of May.
With Neymar absent five-time world champions Brazil qualified for next year’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over Paraguay this month.
Jeddah E-prix double-header becomes most-watched Formula E weekend in history
- Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds hails ‘phenomenal’ record 65m viewers
- Digital audiences showed impressive growth, with social video views and engagements up 13% and 12% respectively
JEDDAH: The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship has confirmed that the 2025 Jeddah E-Prix double-header became the most-watched Formula E weekend in history with a record 65 million viewers, according to data analysis released by Kantar Media on Thursday.
Held under the lights of the iconic Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Feb. 14-15, the races marked the championship’s thrilling debut in the Red Sea city after six successful seasons in Diriyah.
Jeddah’s unique night racing spectacle, coupled with a state-of-the-art circuit and electric atmosphere, has cemented Saudi Arabia’s growing reputation as a premier destination for world-class motorsport, said a media statement.
It added that Jeddah is confirmed to once again host the only double-header night races on the Formula E calendar in Season 12, which will be held on Feb. 13-14, 2026.
According to Jeff Dodds, CEO of Formula E, the latest figures from their external providers are truly phenomenal and show the tremendous momentum behind the growth of the sport.
“They highlight that not only do we have world-leading technology and acceleration in the cars, but that it’s producing some of the best most-competitive racing that old and new fans can’t get enough of,” said Dodds.
He revealed that they are building fan bases and fan loyalty in key and new markets, with Mexico and the US examples of where their investment and longevity in the market is paying dividends.
“As the world’s fastest growing motorsport though, we know we can’t stand still. We know we need to continue offering the best racing, the best rivalries and the best most-inclusive events to continue on our steep trajectory and build a strong community of electric super fans,” added Dodds.
In addition to the record-setting Jeddah rounds, Formula E has seen exceptional growth this season with the data analysis showing unprecedented audience growth across TV and social media for the first half of the 2024-25 season, with its cumulative audience due to surpass 500 million by the end of Season 11.
Digital audiences analysed through Emplifi have also shown impressive growth, with social video views and engagement up 13 percent and 12 percent respectively, underscoring the vibrant and interactive fan community the series continues to build.
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s 11th season — which started in Sao Paulo in December 2024 and will culminate in London on July 26-27 — has so far delivered some of the most exciting racing action in world motorsport, while continually pushing the boundaries of electric performance.
So far this season, its 22 world-class drivers have engaged in intense, head-to-head competition, captivating fans with epic battles on iconic circuits and nail-biting finishes at new venues.
Fans around the globe have tuned in and turned up in greater numbers than ever before, drawn by compelling racing and a shared vision for sustainable and cutting-edge innovation, added the statement.
Dubai’s ISD Sports City partners with Real Madrid in landmark deal
- Real Madrid Foundation will bring its unique program that combines education and sports to ISD’s world-class facilities, including its state-of-the-art pitches
DUBAI: ISD Sports City has announced a landmark partnership with the Real Madrid Foundation to manage a new branch of the Real Madrid Foundation Educational Football Program in Dubai.
The deal was announced with a commemorative photograph taken with Daniels Petrovs, CEO of ISD Sports City, and the Real Madrid Ambassador Roberto Carlos, marking the official launch of the collaboration.
Real Madrid Foundation will bring its unique program that combines education and sports to ISD’s world-class facilities, already home to state-of-the-art pitches. These include the latest hybrid-generation football fields, with all-natural pitches slated for hybrid conversion by the end of the year, an upgrade that positions ISD as a premier destination for international teams and events.
“Dubai is increasingly becoming the global epicentre for sport and youth development,” said Petrovs. “Partnering with the Real Madrid Foundation allows us to elevate our football offering to high-quality standards while giving children across the UAE access to an unique experience and facilities.
“Our goal is simple: to build a center of excellence that sets the benchmark globally.”
Petrovs, who has led ISD for the past 15 months, brings his expertise in building modern sports facilities, including converting all pitches to hybrid surfaces and also embedding sustainability and performance into every inch of ISD’s infrastructure.
