Pakistan director of cricket Mickey Arthur made some bizarre remarks and showed disdain for lack of support the Men in Green side got in their recent ICC World Cup 2023 match against India. The encounter was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14, which saw India winning by 7 wickets.
Pakistan only scored 191 runs after being asked to bat first by India captain Rohit Sharma. Babar Azam made 50 and Mohammad Rizwan made 49 runs, adding 82 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 win him any favors, but received wide spread criticism for making excuses for the loss of Pakistan team.
Legendary Pakistani pacer Wasim Akram who was analyzing the game for Pakistan-based channel A Sports lashed out at the statement and demanded answers from Arthur.
He said on A Sports: "I don't know what to make of this statement. Tell us what your plans were against Kuldeep Yadav, that's what we want to hear, not just random stuff. You think you can get away with this? You can't, unfortunately.”
Akram’s former teammate Moin Khan added that: "He is trying to divert now that hearts are aching. He is trying to touch an emotional chord. I think he should concentrate on his profession and not on something else. He is right in what he said, but as a coach, he should not be saying these things.”
If this was not enough, Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer took a brutal dig at Arthur as well. He called out the Pakistan coach and asked him about the Pakistan team's home results against Australia and England.
"I wondered why Pakistan lost home series vs both Aus and Eng, but thanks to Micky Arthur now I know it was because stadium DJ didn't play 'Dil Dil Pakistan' enough and majority of fans were wearing blue jerseys :)" Jaffer wrote on X.
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.”
Pakistan will now face Australia in Bengaluru on Friday, October 20. On the other hand, India will play Bangladesh in Pune on October 19.
