Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur’s comment on the ambience at the Narendra Modi Stadium during the game against India has sparked a massive debate in the cricket fraternity. The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday reacted to Arthur’s remarks, stating that the global cricketing body will take note of how they can improve the arrangements in future editions.
Following a 7-wicket defeat in Ahmedabad, Arthur complained about the partisan crowd and no Pakistani music being played at the venue made him feel like ‘a BCCI event than ICC’. The Pakistan fans have not been granted visas to travel to India for the World Cup.
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“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.”
Reacting to Arthur’s comment, ICC chairman Greg Barclay downplayed it as mere criticism that every World Cup edition faces.
“Every event that we have, there are always criticisms from various quarters,” Barclay was quoted as saying by AFP on the sidelines of the International Olympic Committee Session in Mumbai.
“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,” he added.
“We are really sad that our supporters aren’t here, they would love to 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,” Bradburn said.
“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,” he added.
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