Mickey Arthur, the director of the Pakistan cricket team, made a strange and contentious statement about the atmosphere and arrangements at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad after Pakistan’s heavy loss to India in the 2023 World Cup. Following criticism directed at Mickey Arthur for his comment that the World Cup felt more like a BCCI event than a true World Cup, the ICC has issued a response. This comment did not receive a positive response from the cricket community.
Not only were former Indian cricketers making fun of him, but also Pakistani cricket legends criticized Arthur’s statement. On Monday, the ICC issued a response addressing the criticism directed at Arthur. After suffering their eighth World Cup defeat against India, which ties the record for the most losses by a team against a single opponent, Arthur voiced his displeasure about the biased crowd and the absence of Pakistani music at the stadium.
This made him feel that the event was more of a “BCCI event than ICC.” Notably, no Pakistani fans were granted visas to attend the World Cup in India, and the few present in the stadium were residents of different countries.
“Look, I’d be lying if I said it did [not affect us],” Arthur said after the match. “It didn’t seem like an ICC event, to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; like a BCCI event.”
Arthur wasn’t the sole member of the Pakistan support staff who was dissatisfied with the environment in Ahmedabad. Pakistan coach Grand Bradburn also believed that the conditions strongly favored the host team, India.
“We are really sad that our supporters aren’t here, they would love be here and I am sure Indian cricket fans would love our supporters here as well. It was certainly unusual in that way, no familiar music for us today. So it did not feel like a World Cup game, honestly.”
”We didn’t expect anything else. We love the occasion and we are disappointed that we did not do justice to the occasion or justice to our many fans at home and globally,” he said after India beat Pakistan by 7 wickets in a one-sided contest.
The ICC responds to the remark made by Pakistan’s coaches about the World Cup feeling like a “BCCI event”
While Mickey Arthur faced heavy criticism for his unusual statement, ICC Chairman Greg Barclay was questioned about it and downplayed it as typical criticism that every World Cup event encounters.
“Every event that we have, there’s always criticisms from various quarters,” Barclay was quoted during the International Olympic Committee Session in Mumbai, where the inclusion of T20 cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics was voted on, saying by AFP.
“Things that perhaps we’ll take away and try to work on, try to do better… so this event’s only [at] the start. Let’s see how the whole thing plays out and we’ll go away and we’ll review what could change, what we can do better, how we can improve World Cups and the general offering around cricket. We will just take it as it plays out, get to the end of the event. I’m satisfied that it will still be an outstanding World Cup.”
Even after the defeat, Pakistan maintained their position in the fourth spot on the points table, having won two out of three games. Their earlier victories came against Netherlands and Sri Lanka. Their upcoming match is against Australia in Bengaluru on October 20. Australia recently got their campaign back on track with a win against Sri Lanka.
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