"India will win at their new home venue" - Ex-England skipper's cheeky response to X user on his prediction for IND vs NZ 2025 Champions Trophy final

Former England captain Michael Vaughan cheekily responded to a user on X while predicting the winner between India and New Zealand in the Champions Trophy 2025 final. The former England captain wrote on the social media platform that the Men in Blue would win in their new 'home venue'.

A handful of former cricketers have expressed their displeasure over allotting Rohit Sharma and Co. Dubai as the sole venue for all the matches as it relieves them of traveling, unlike other teams.

Australia and South Africa both notably traveled to Dubai ahead of the semi-final as they did not know their opposition until the final group game. With India defeating New Zealand, they sealed the semi-final date with Australia but the Proteas had to travel to Lahore again for the second knockout game.

With a user on X asking Vaughan about his prediction, the 50-year-old wrote:

"India will win at there new home venue."

After the second semi-final of the eight-team event, Proteas batter David Miller had also questioned the schedule and said it was not ideal for them to travel back and forth during the competition.

"What undue advantage?" - Team India coach hits back over comments about schedules favoring them

Gautam Gambhir. (Image Credits: Getty)

Following the semi-final against Australia, India's head coach Gautam Gambhir hit back at the critics, claiming that the side don't play regularly enough in Dubai to be familiar with the conditions. The former opener said they also practice at the ICC Academy instead of at the Dubai Stadium, stating, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:

"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. And there's a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that."

He continued:

"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."

Rohit and Co. had notably beaten the Kiwis in the group stage of the tournament.