Mickey Arthur, the Director of Cricket for Pakistan, expressed his frustration over the limited support that the Men in Green received during their recent ICC World Cup 2023 match against India, held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14. India secured a 7-wicket victory.
Pakistan, batting first at the request of India’s captain Rohit Sharma, managed to score only 191 runs. Babar Azam contributed 50 runs, and Mohammad Rizwan added 49 runs, forming an 82-run partnership for the third wicket.
In response, Rohit Sharma’s brutal 86 and Shreyas Iyer’s 53* was enough for India to win with 117 balls to spare. This was India’s 8th straight win over Pakistan in Cricket World Cup history.
In the post-match press conference, Mickey Arthur took a dig at the BCCI saying the absence of support for Pakistan in the 132,000-capacity stadium made the occasion look more like ‘a BCCI event’ rather than an ICC event.
He also made a bizarre comment saying that he felt the song ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ was not played by the DJ at the ground enough.
He said:
‘It didn’t seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) event. I didn’t hear ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ (‘My heart is Pakistan’) coming through too often tonight. So yes, that does play a role, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse.'”
This statement from Arthur didn’t earn him any goodwill but rather garnered widespread criticism for appearing to make excuses for Pakistan’s loss.
Adding insult to injury, former India opener Aakash Chopra also made a sarcastic comment to Arthur, saying “Dil Dil Pakistan” was not played much at the ground.
He posted:
“DJ wale babu mera gana baja do…I mean seriously???? Did we hear Sri Lanka complain about the fact that the Hyderabad crowd was chanting ‘Pakistan Jeetega’?? I’ll be genuinely surprised if the DJ at Narendra Modi Stadium played ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ even once today.”
https://x.com/cricketaakash/status/1713237366314504267?s=20