Media reports quoting Pat Cummins on India’s schedule at the 2025 Champions Trophy had been doing the rounds. Cummins has now denied saying the words.
India are the only team guaranteed to play all their matches of the at the 2025 World Cup at the same venue (Dubai). The schedule has drawn reactions from the cricket fraternity.
As per a CodeSports report, Cummins had “dropped a truth bomb”, questioning India’s schedule at the tournament. The Australian ODI (and Test) captain, Cummins has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy with an injury, and Steve Smith is leading Australia instead.
The report quoted Cummins from an interview with Yahoo: “I think it’s good in that the tournament can go on [it was in jeopardy when India refused to visit Pakistan, the designed hosts], but obviously it does give them [India] a huge advantage playing on the same ground. They already look very strong and they’ve got that obvious benefit of playing all their games there.”
The report also quoted legendary cricket writer Gideon Haigh speaking to the ABC Offsiders: “It’s the ‘where does an 800-pound gorilla sit? The answer is any where it likes. And that’s the case with India where they can pretty much dictate the terms.
“So India are playing all their games in Dubai for confusing reasons. The BCCI is saying the government are saying you can’t go to play cricket in Pakistan. But the government is saying the BCCI has cited security concerns about India going. So no one can quite get their story straight. And of course no one has to because India does what it like.”
CodeCricket tweeted the report with the words: “Pakistan is the official host country for the ICC tournament. But India will play every game in Dubai, including their 6-wicket win over Pakistan. And Pat Cummins has shared his thoughts on the controversy.”
A few hours later, Cummins quote-tweeted CodeCricket with “I have definitely never said this”. Code Sports subsequently deleted their tweet.
