Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur questioned the one-sided make-up of the crowd for the India-Pakistan fixture in Ahmedabad today (October 14), saying the match “seemed like a BCCI event” rather than a World Cup.

Pakistan lost to India by seven wickets after they were bowled out for 191 and fell victim to another Rohit masterclass in the chase. The India captain hit 86 off 63 balls before Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul saw the tournament hosts home with almost 20 overs remaining.

During the match, the crowd was dominated by India supporters with an unbroken wall of blue across the stands. While Rohit was batting, the crowd were loudly cheering each six he hit, but every wicket that went down was greeted with silence. When Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam formed a solid partnership during Pakistan’s innings, the crowd was largely silent until Babar was dismissed.

Mickey Arthur addressed the crowd in his post-match press conference. “Look, I’d be lying if I said it did,” said Arthur when asked whether the crowd was a factor in Pakistan’s performance. “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.

“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.

When pressed further on whether he thought it was right that a crowd for a World Cup was so one-sided, Arthur refused to speak further.

“Look I don’t think I can’t comment on that just yet,” he said. “I don’t want to get fined.”

The loss to India is Pakistan’s first of the tournament after they beat the Netherlands and Sri Lanka in their first two games. India are now top of the table having won all three of their matches.

“This Indian team is a very, very good cricket team,” said Arthur. “I think they’re very well led by Rahul and Rohit. I think they look good. I think they’ve got all bases covered and I’m looking forward to meeting them in the final again.”

Pakistan will play Australia next on Friday, October 20 in Bangalore, while India will face Bangladesh on Thursday, October 19.

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