England’s Champions Trophy opponents hit with travel farce with South Africa to fly to Dubai straight after match, handing India advantage

England’s Champions Trophy opponents South Africa will fly to Dubai immediately after today’s match in a farcical development that highlights how much this tournament’s scheduling favours India.

Australia have already headed to the United Arab Emirates because of a tight turnaround between Sunday’s final Group A match and the first semi final on the same ground on Tuesday.

India, who face New Zealand on Sunday, know they are guaranteed to feature in that last-four clash in Dubai because of their refusal to play here in Pakistan on political grounds.

But not until the result against the Black Caps is known will it be determined whether South Africa or Australia are their opponents.

If India finish top of their group, they will play the second-placed team from Group B; if they finish second, they play the winners.

So, to avoid having to travel on the day before playing, both the South Africans and Australians have committed to being on the ground in the UAE so that they can acclimatise to new conditions on Monday.

To avoid a travel headache, the South Africans committed to being on the ground in the UAE

But the scheduling has handed India, the only side not to have travelled, the advantage

Once their respective fates are decided, one of the two teams will then fly to Lahore alongside the New Zealanders for Wednesday’s other semi-final.

Next Sunday’s final will also take place in Lahore in the event of India, the world’s number one-ranked team being eliminated, but will be contested in Dubai in the event of them progressing.

Of the eight participants, Rohit Sharma’s side are the only ones not to have travelled, playing their group matches at one venue, while the way the fixtures fell also handed them the added advantage of knowing what they needed do to progress in the event that their group got tight.