It was not made public how many people attended the
event on Saturday in Ahmedabad, but it wouldn’t have been difficult to count
the green shirts in the stands. There may have been three of them, all American
citizens of Pakistani descent.
The crowd, which could have numbered between 115,000
and 125,000, was a sea of blue as the national anthems for both teams were
played. The decibel levels increased as India moved closer and closer to
finishing their chase of 192 with seven wickets remaining, and it stayed that
way till the end of the game.
Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan team director, didn’t want
to use this as an excuse for the loss, but nonetheless questioned the one-sided
nature of the fan base.
“Look, I’d be lying if I said it did [not affect
us],” Arthur said when asked about the partisan crowd. “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.
“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.”
As a follow-up, Arthur was asked if such a situation
should be allowed at global events. It’s a question he dead batted. “Look
I don’t think I can’t comment on that just yet,” he said. “I don’t
want to get fined.”
Pakistan head coach Grant Bradburn had similar
sentiments.
“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.