The highly anticipated India vs Pakistan match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 lived up to its reputation as the hosts India managed to secure a comprehensive 7-wicket win over the arch-rivals on Saturday, October 14 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. While the game was full of several memorable moments for the Men in Blue, it also had its fair share of controversies as Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur termed the match a ‘BCCI event’ rather than an ‘ICC event’.
Following Pakistan’s loss, Arthur expressed disappointment at the lack of support for Pakistan as the song ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ wasn’t played during the match. Recently, ICC (International Cricket Council) Chairman Greg Barclay commented on Arthur’s statement and said that every event receives criticism but they will review and see where they can do better.
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“Every event that we have, there’s always criticisms from various quarters. 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,” Barclay was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
The ICC Chairman further asserted that the World Cup will turn out to be an outstanding event.
“We will just take it as it plays out, get to the end of the event. I’m satisfied that it will still be an outstanding World Cup,” he added.
Notably, there weren’t many Pakistan fans present in the stands during the game as many were not granted Visas for the tournament.
“Look, I’d be lying if I said it did [not affect us],” Arthur said after the match. “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 had said after Pakistan’s loss.
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India extended their winning streak to 8-0
Coming back to the match, after being put in to bat first, Pakistan were bundled out for 191 despite being 155/2 after 29.3 overs as five Indian bowlers shared two wickets each. In reply, captain Rohit Sharma continued from where he left off against Afghanistan and scored a breathtaking 86 (63). Apart from him Shreyas Iyer also scored his first half-century in the tournament (53* off 62) and helped his side get over the line in 30.3 overs as they won the match by seven wickets.
With their win, India extended their unbeaten run over Pakistan in ODI World Cup to make it 8-0.