The ICC will review Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur’s statement that the India, Pakistan match on in the World Cup on October 14 in Ahmedabad felt more like a bilateral series game, ESPNcricinfo reported.
When asked to respond to Arthur’s comments, ICC chairman Greg Barclay called it the kind of criticism that is par for the course at such tournaments.
“Every event that we have, there’s always criticisms from various quarters,” Barclay said in Mumbai, where he was attending the International Olympic Committee Session.
“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,” he added.
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It is pertinent to mention that Arthur took a dig at cricket’s governing body after the Pakistan’s match against India, claiming the absence of support for his team in Ahmedabad’s 132,000-capacity stadium made the occasion look like “a BCCI event” rather than an international marquee match-up.
“It didn’t seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] event,” he said.
Arthur accused the public address system organisers of favouring India by refusing to play Dil Dil Pakistan, the nation’s unofficial anthem.
