DUBAI: Australia and South Africa have been forced to travel to Dubai from Pakistan, the International Cricket Council confirmed Sunday, due to a tangled schedule at the Champions Trophy. India and New Zealand play the final group match on Sunday in Dubai and the result of the game will decide the semifinal line-up. Australia are in Dubai and will train in the afternoon, when South Africa are expected to fly in from Karachi where they hammered England to get top spot in Group B. The winners of the India-New Zealand clash will play Australia, who finished second to South Africa in their group. But irrespective of the placing and opponent, India will play the first semifinal in Dubai on March 4 after they refused to travel to hosts Pakistan for political reasons. That will leave New Zealand and either Australia or South Africa, hours after landing in Dubai, to head back to Pakistan for the second semifinal scheduled on March 5 in Lahore. Pundits and ex-cricketers had called out the one-venue “farce” at the 50-over tournament after India were allowed to play all their matches at the Dubai International Stadium. The rest of the seven teams in the eight-nation competition had to shuttle between three Pakistan venues — Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore — and the United Arab Emirates. New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips said his team were not thinking about India staying at one venue for the course of the tournament. “No, for us there’s no focus on anything like that,” he said on Saturday. “We have a ‘no-excuses’ mindset.” The final on March 9 will be in Dubai if India go the distance. Lahore’s Qaddafi Stadium will be the venue if India miss out.
