The much-hyped India vs Pakistan conflict on the Cricket World Cup 2023 was just about an one-sided affair with the Rohit Sharma-led hosts popping out victorious in Ahmedabad on Saturday. India have been the dominant facet each with  the bowling and batting as Babar Azam‘s Pakistan confirmed no gumption to battle. Batting first, Pakistan have been all out for 191 with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav selecting two wickets every. India, boosted by sensible innings from Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer, reached the goal simply.

However, after the match ended, Pakistan Team Director Mickey Arthur gave a singular response. He talked about that the environment contained in the Narendra Modi Stadium didn’t really feel prefer it was ‘an ICC occasion’.

Arthur mentioned: “Look, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. It didn’t seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI event. I didn’t hear ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ coming through the microphones too often tonight.” Arthur, nonetheless, mentioned that the dearth of assist within the crowd couldn’t be used an excuse for the staff’s heavy loss to India.

“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, the Indian players tonight,” he added.

‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ is a well-liked music sung by well-known group Vital Signs fronted by late Junaid Jamshed.

According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, ICC has now responded to the feedback.

ICC chairman Greg Barclay seemingly downplayed the criticism. “Every event that we have, there’s always criticisms from various quarters,” Barclay was quoted as saying by the publication when requested to reply about Arthur’s feedback.

“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 simply take it because it performs out, get to the tip of the occasion. I’m happy that it’s going to nonetheless be an excellent World Cup.”

Arthur, meanwhile, admitted that Pakistan didn’t play fearless cricket on the day.

“We have been just a little bit timid tonight with our total efficiency. I’d have appreciated us to essentially take the sport on just a bit bit extra. It’s a large event, as we all know, however I feel we simply went into our shells just a little bit,” Arthur said.

With PTI inputs