Former India bowler S Sreesanth has responded to Mickey Arthur’s post-World Cup comment that the game looked more like a BCCI event than an ICC one. Sreesanth suggested that Arthur watch the Bollywood film “83” to learn about the history and struggle that led to the Indian cricket board’s success.
On October 14, India defeated Pakistan by seven wickets in match number 12 of the 2023 ODI World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Pakistan slumped from 155/2 to 191 all out in their first innings. The Men in Blue then chased the mark down in 30.3 overs, led by skipper Rohit Sharma’s 86 off 63 balls.
Speaking during the game, Pakistan Team Director Arthur questioned the absence of Pakistan fans at the marquee match and stated that the game appeared to be a BCCI event.
Sreesanth responded to Arthur’s remark by saying
“Wherever India plays, it never seems like an ICC event is going on. It will always seem like a BCCI event. We should show him [Arthur] the movie 83 with subtitles. Then he can understand where BCCI was and where it is now. The journey is very important. It’s a motivational and inspirational story.”
Sreesanth
The former India pacer added:
“BCCI has risen to the top on its own with much difficulty . The administrators and players are very good now. Even if our C team plays in the World Cup, it would be a brilliant team. What will the ICC say? All the revenues and everything… Would Mickey Arthur have said the same thing if the World Cup was being held in England? Even when I played in Durban for two years, I felt I was in India,”
Sreesanth
Due to immigration complications, Pakistan fans were unable to attend the much-anticipated 2023 World Cup match in Ahmedabad. According to media sources, just a few Pakistani journalists would be able to attend the game.
ICC Breaks Silence on Mickey Arthur’s Statement
In response to Arthur’s remark, the ICC minimized the incident, stating that every event receives criticism.
AFP cited ICC chairman Greg Barclay as stating on the margins of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) conference in Mumbai:
“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.”
“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.”
Greg Barclay
With three victories from three games, India now leads the 2023 World Cup points standings. Pakistan is fourth with two victories and one defeat.