Rassie van der Dussen calls out India advantage in Champions Trophy

While the seven other teams in the eight-team tournament are travelling between cities in host country Pakistan, India have been allowed to host all their matches in Dubai due to security concerns in their neighbour's territory, following a 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.

This, according to van der Dussen, is a certain advantage given the comforts of staying in a single hotel, while practicing and playing in the exact same conditions day by day, while other teams are left to catch flights to and fro, and reacclimatise to different locations.

""I think it's definitely an advantage, I mean I saw Pakistan were commenting about it, but it's definitely an advantage," asserted the 36-year-old during an online media session.

"If you can stay in one place, stay in one hotel, practice in the same facilities, play in the same stadium on the same pitches every time, it's definitely an advantage, and I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to know that.

"So the onus would be on them to use that advantage and I suppose, in a sense, it puts more pressure on them.

"Because whoever is going to play them in the semi-final, or potentially the final, is going to go there and the conditions will be foreign, while they will be used to it, and I suppose the pressure would be on them to get it right because they have all that knowledge."

The Proteas could potentially face India in the semi-finals, depending on the outcome of the tie between Australia and Afghanistan in Lahore on Friday, with South Africa then having to decide their fate against England in Karachi on Saturday.

And should this happen, South Africa would have to then leave Pakistan for the United Arab Emirates and try to beat India in a 'neutral venue' before travelling back to the host country to play the final on 9 March.

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