Former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik has slammed ex-England players Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton for their hypocrisy after Pakistan was eliminated from the T20 World Cup 2026. He slammed them for criticizing India after their Champions Trophy 2025 win, as they played all of their matches in Dubai.

India had refused to travel to Pakistan, who were the official hosts of the ICC Champions Trophy, and hence played all of their group games, the semi-finals, and ultimately the final in Dubai.

Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain had talked about the “undeniable advantage” India had, playing all of its games in Dubai.

“What about the advantage India has in playing in Dubai, only in Dubai? Which seems to me to be a hard-to-quantify advantage, but an undeniable advantage. They’re playing at just one venue. They don’t have to travel either between venues or, you know, between countries, as a lot of other teams have to do,” Hussain and Atherton had discussed on Sky Sports.

“Therefore, the selection, you know, can focus on the conditions in Dubai. And obviously, they’ll know where they’re playing their semi-final as and when they get through to it. That seems to me to be an undeniable advantage, but, you know, kind of hard to quantify how big an advantage,” Atherton had said.

“It is an advantage. So, the best team in the tournament has that advantage. And I saw a tweet the other day saying, ‘Pakistan host nation, India home advantage.’ It sums it up really. They are at one place, one hotel; they don’t have to travel. They have one dressing room. They know the pitch; they have picked for that pitch,” Hussain had added.

Now Dinesh Karthik used the same logic against Atherton and Hussain while discussing Pakistan’s performance in the T20 World Cup 2026. Pakistan, who didn’t come to India for the T20 World Cup matches under their agreement with India for the ICC tournament, played all of their matches in Sri Lanka in the group stage and the Super 8s stage.

Pakistan, despite qualifying for the Super 8s and winning against Sri Lanka, failed to qualify for the semis, as their match against New Zealand was washed out and they lost to England.

Karthik cited this during a discussion for Sky Sports with Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain and called them ‘fossils’ while taking a dig at their hypocrisy.

"I expected Pak to qualify for the semis because they have played consistently in Colombo, stayed in one hotel, and know the pitches well, and both you FOSSILS cried that's one of the reasons India did so well in the Champions Trophy. By that same accord, Pak should have done something in this World Cup, but clearly, it works for one team and it doesn’t for another. So, there is a genuine lack of skills, as Pakistan lost most of the game, and almost losing to Sri Lanka was mad,” Karthik stated during the discussion.

See here:

???? DK COOKED MIKE ATHERTON AND NASSER HUSSAIN OVER PAKISTAN'S WC EXIT

"I expected Pak to qualify for the semis because they have played consistently in Colombo, stayed in one hotel, know the pitches well, and both you FOSSILS cried that's one of the reasons India did so well in… pic.twitter.com/T4aP0k7aBU

— Brutal Truth (@sarkarstix) March 4, 2026