Srinagar: Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur on Saturday said that they struggled to find any green shirts in crowd and also everything wad staked against his side during India vs Pakistan World Cup match in Ahmedabad.
Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad was almost full for the match with sea of blue (India fans) turning up for the clash. India outplayed Pakistan in the middle as well outside.
Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan team director, didn’t want to use this as an excuse for the loss, but raised a question about the atmosphere.
“Look, I’d be lying if I said it did [not affect us,” Arthur said in a post match presser.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
“Naturally that [a sea of blue] was going to be the case. We are really sad that our supporters aren’t here,” he said. “They would love be here and I am sure Indian cricket fans would love our supporters here as well,” Pakistan coach Grant was quoted by ESNCricinfo.com
“It was certainly unusual in that way, no familiar music for us today. So it did not feel like a World Cup game, honestly. We didn’t expect anything else. [But] we love the occasion and we are disappointed that we did not do justice to the occasion or justice to our many fans at home and globally.”
