“How come England did not win ICC trophies?” - Legendary opener’s scathing attack on India’s critics during 2025 Champions Trophy 

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the English pundits for their constant accusations of the Men in Blue's apparent home advantage throughout the recently concluded 2025 Champions Trophy. As per the hybrid model, Rohit Sharma and company played all of their matches in Dubai, while the rest of the teams played in Pakistan and traveled to Dubai to face India.

The biggest point raised by the critics against the hybrid model was the fact that India had the advantage of playing in conditions that were quite familiar to them and that they did not have to travel at all.

Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma shut down such allegations, citing they have had to adapt accordingly, much like other teams.

Sunil Gavaskar noted that if home advantage was such a huge factor, why did England struggle in familiar conditions in ICC events?

"If ‘home advantage’ is the reason India won, then how come England, from where most of the whingers were, did not win ICC trophies till 2019 despite hosting it about half a dozen times earlier?" Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

England hosted the first three ODI World Cups, starting in 1975, as well as the 1999 edition. Across these four events, they made it to the final just once. Furthermore, they hosted the ICC Champions Trophy thrice and also the 2009 T20 World Cup, but silverware continued to elude them until the home ODI World Cup in 2019.

Gavaskar added that India's triumph should be attributed to their prowess rather than the conditions.

"India won simply because it had a well-balanced team, and at different times in the tournament, different players played a game-changing role in the team’s win. Above all, there was the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, who, in winning two ICC titles as captain, has joined the incomparable MS Dhoni in winning multiple titles as skipper of the Indian cricket team," Gavaskar wrote.

Team India finished the 2025 Champions Trophy unbeaten. They won all their group-stage matches before winning the knockout matches en route to the title. With only a solitary loss across the last three ICC events, the Men in Blue have piled up a generational run.

"Any negative comment about that should have happened before the tournament’s first ball was bowled" - Sunil Gavaskar on Champions Trophy 2025 hybrid model

The hybrid model for the Champions Trophy was approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in December 2024, a couple of months prior to the tournament. Although the idea was not unanimously acclaimed back then, there was no major uproar either.

However, the claims of 'unfair advantage' spurred on with each Indian victory, reaching its peak following their progress into the final.

Gavaskar mentioned that any potential issues should have been raised before the tournament began and not during its run.

"There will be the carpers who talked about the advantage India had playing only at one venue and not having to travel between matches. However, that was decided by the ICC much before the tournament started, and any negative comment about that should have happened before the tournament’s first ball was bowled," Gavaskar opined in the same column.

"Like in the ICC T20 win last year, the Indians beat every team in the Champions Trophy too, and if that is not an indication of India being the best, then please let us know what is," he added.

Team India faced New Zealand, Bangladesh, and Pakistan in the group stages before facing Australia and New Zealand in the semi-final and the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy, respectively.