With the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 reaching its business end, the debate over India’s potential advantage in Dubai has become the talk of the town.

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium is playing host to India's Champions Trophy matches as the BCCI refused to send its team to Pakistan due to security concerns and uncordial political relations between the two countries.

The Rohit Sharma-led side dominated the group-stage, defeating Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand comprehensively. Amid the dominance, several former and current cricketers have mentioned about India getting undue advantage by playing at just one venue.

India will now face Australia in the first semi-final on Tuesday (March 4). Ahead of the knockout fixture, Australian captain Steve Smith refused to give a clear answer regarding the advantage bit. However, he did say that India are very well versed with the conditions.

"In terms of an advantage, yeah, maybe, I'm not sure. Yeah, India obviously played all their games here. So they've seen what the surface is doing. Obviously, the whole square block's pretty dry," Smith told reporters at the pre-match press conference.

"Having spoken to the groundsman just now, it's a dry surface, had a lot of traffic. So we've seen how the wickets are played. And India have obviously played really well in their games as well. So it's going to be a good contest. We're looking forward to it," he added.

After India’s back-to-back wins in the tournament over Bangladesh and Pakistan, former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain had said that the Men in Blue have an advantage, as unlike the rest of the teams, they don't have to travel from one venue to another or consider team selection based on conditions.

Australia and South Africa had travelled to Dubai before India's last Group A match against New Zealand. However, after India's victory, the Proteas flew back to Pakistan to play the second semi-final against the Kiwis in Lahore.

"We guessed right in the end. Ideal to be here and have a couple of days preparation. I think had we stayed and waited for last night's result, we would have had to have flown here today and played tomorrow, not get a chance to train on the surface or get used to the conditions that we have at the academy," said Smith.

"And if we had to go back, we would have just got on the same plane back as New Zealand and had a day there before playing. So it made sense to us," he stated.

India are expected to go in with four-pronged spin attack in the semi-final against Australia. Smith admitted that the contest will boil down to how his batters counter the spin challenge on a tricky Dubai pitch.

"I think not just Chakaravarthy. I think the rest of their spin is a quality as well. So I think for us, the game's probably won and lost how we play this spin, particularly in the middle overs, the way we get through there. It's going to be a challenge. I think that there's going to be some spin by the looks of it. We've got to counter that," he remarked.