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ICC chairman Greg Barclay addressed the comments of Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur regarding the India vs Pakistan match in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. The Men in Blue registered a massive seven-wicket win to clinch their third straight win of the tournament. But the big-ticket game in Ahmedabad received a lot of criticism for its hostile crowds against the Pakistani team.
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After the game, Mickey Arthur spoke about the Indian fans in the stadium and claimed that this India-Pakistan fixture seemed like a game from the bilateral series and not a World Cup. Addressing these comments, ICC chairman Greg Barclay downplayed them and shared how criticism is expected during tournaments like these.
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As quoted by Cricinfo, Barclay, at the IOC event in Mumbai, said, "Every event that we have, there's always criticisms from various quarters. 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 continued.
While coming back to Mickey Arthur's comment, the Pakistan team director wasn't happy with the poor support received by the Men in Green which had a massive impact on the team. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Arthur shared, "Look, I'd be lying if I said it did [not affect us]. It didn't seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI event."
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"I didn't hear Dil Dil Pakistan coming through the microphones too often tonight. So yes, that does play a role, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse because for us it was about living the moment, it was about the next ball, and it was about how we were going to combat the Indian players tonight," he added.
