'Some people are just perpetual cribbers' - Gautam Gambhir responds to remarks of India having undue advantage in Champions Trophy

The Indian team has made it to the final of the Champions Trophy after beating Australia in the semi-final on Tuesday, March 4. They are now set to play the decider on Sunday, March 9 against either New Zealand or South Africa. Due to India’s qualification the final will now be held at the Dubai International Stadium.

There is no doubt that India has been enjoying another great ICC event so far where they have gone unbeaten. However, some former cricketers and fans still believe that the Men in Blue have had an unfair advantage since they did not have to travel and have been playing at the same venue. India head coach and former World Champion Gautam Gambhir shut down the critics claiming the venue and the surface has been neutral and unfamiliar for them just like for every other team which has played at the ground.

“See, first of all, this is as neutral a venue for us as it is for any other team. We have not played here. I don't remember when last we played here. And in fact, we didn't plan anything like that. The plan was that if you pick two frontline spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere, we would have picked two frontline spinners because this was a competition in the subcontinent," Gambhir said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

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"So it's not like we wanted to spin a spinners' web. If you look at it, we only played one frontline spinner in the first two matches. We played two frontline spinners in this match and the previous match,” Gambhir added.

“And there's a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven't practised here even for one day. We're practising at the ICC Academy. And the conditions there and here are 180 degrees different. Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man. They've got to grow up. I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage,” Gambhir said further.

Speaking of the second semi-final, the match is going to be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday, March 5. This will be the last match that will be held in Pakistan.