Massive pro-India crowd played a role: Pakistan team director Arthur on crushing ICC defeat

After India walked away with a comprehensive 7-wicket victory, Arthur didn't hold back his disappointment. He said it didn't seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest but it looked a bilateral series, a BCCI event.

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) : Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur was dissatisfied after India registered a comprehensive victory over Pakistan on Saturday at the Narendra Modi Stadium here and questioned the one-sided nature of the fan base. Considered to be one of the most fierce rivalries in the world of cricket, the India-Pakistan clash took place in the world's biggest stadium - Narendra Modi Stadium. Home fans turned up in large numbers to support the 'Men in Blue'.

After India walked away with a comprehensive 7-wicket victory, Arthur didn't hold back his disappointment and said in the post-match press conference, "Look, I'd be lying if I said it did. 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."

The lack of green in the stands was partly down to Pakistani fans not being granted visas for the tournament. "What factor, how much of a factor do you think such a big crowd and such a partisan crowd against you, like 1,30,000 people all against you, do you think that had any impact in the things you've mentioned, being timid, etc," Arthur added.

He went on to state that the crowd plays a massive role in such fixtures but they will not use it as an excuse for the defeat. "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," Arthur said.

Coming to the match, Indian bowlers completely shattered Pakistan's batting lineup as Bumrah, Siraj, Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja bagged two wickets each to bundle out their traditional rival for 191 runs in just 42.5 overs. Captain Babar Azam scored the highest for Pakistan with 50 off 58 while Mohammad Rizwan scored 49. Skipper Rohit Sharma (86) and Shreyas Iyer's (53*) inspiring knocks guided India to a comfortable 7-wicket victory.