"What has happened to the pitches?" - Aakash Chopra on the Dubai pitch for IND vs BAN 2025 Champions Trophy clash

Former India player Aakash Chopra has expressed surprise about the Dubai pitch helping the spinners in the Men in Blue's 2025 Champions Trophy clash against Bangladesh. He noted that the surface for Thursday's (February 20) game was virtually like an Indian pitch.

India bowled Bangladesh out for 228 after Najmul Hossain Shanto opted to bat first in the second Group A game. Rohit Sharma and company chased the target down with six wickets and 21 deliveries to spare to start their campaign with a win.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener was perplexed about how the Dubai pitch started assisting the spinners, saying (9:00):

"I will be very honest. When I came here, I felt the pitches would have help for the fast bowlers because the ILT20 was saying that fast bowlers get the wickets and the spinners have a limited role, and that India did wrong in picking five spinners."

"One spinner is still extra. They could have kept one more fast bowler for a little more variation. However, what has happened to the pitches? This could have been Indore, Kotla, or any other pitch in India which is flat and doesn't have any grass at all, and if anything, slightly slow. It was incredible and the entire square's situation is the same," Chopra added.

Although the Dubai pitch was more favorable for the spinners, the Indian seamers picked up eight wickets in Bangladesh's innings. While Mohammed Shami registered figures of 5/53 in 10 overs, Harshit Rana returned with a spell of 3/31 in 7.4 overs.

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"Suddenly you start thinking that the selection wasn't bad" - Aakash Chopra on India's 2025 Champions Trophy squad

India have included five spinners in their 2025 Champions Trophy squad. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra opined that India weren't too wrong in their 2025 Champions Trophy selections, considering the nature of the pitch in Dubai.

"Suddenly you start thinking that the selection wasn't bad. You need spinners here. If the opposing team had played three spinners, they had only two in Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Rishad Hossain, and both reminded us of Ravi bhai (Shastri) for some time (made our life difficult)," he said (9:50).

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the absence of dew also helped the spinner's cause.

"The ball was turning a lot and since there was no dew later, there was no problem. The pitches are not at all like what the ILT20 story used to say. The pitches are not at all like what I had seen in Dubai previously. It seems like it's a totally India-like atmosphere," Chopra observed.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra noted that the 2025 Champions Trophy games in Dubai are seemingly happening on Indian pitches. He reckoned that the surface gives the Men in Blue the edge and that the selectors and team management would have been aware of the nature of the pitch while picking five spinners.