India vs Pakistan is the most electrifying game in all of sports. The affair is often touted as a proxy war on the field between two nations. While all this may seem a bit too much from afar, players and coaches have attested to it several times.
Former Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur has also confirmed this by calling the crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium ‘hostile’ during their latest encounter in the ODI World Cup.
Talking about his experience of the India vs Pakistan clash with Wisden, Mickey Arthur stated that he wanted to approach the match as a simple contest between bat and ball. But, given the hostile crowd in Ahmedabad, he felt it was difficult for the Pakistan cricket team to cope with such pressure and a lack of support.
Arthur on no ‘sea of green’ for the India vs Pakistan match
When asked: One of the toughest games in the World Cup would have been against India in Ahmedabad. How did you prepare the team for what would be a hostile reception and intimidating atmosphere, especially when the majority of the team wouldn’t have experienced anything like it previously?
Mickey Arthur replied: It was very interesting, and the one thing that was forgotten with all the rhetoric, was that our whole team had never played in India before, so every venue they went to was a new experience. We certainly wanted to remove that from their mindset, just for them to focus and play to their optimum – because ultimately, it’s a contest between bat and ball. We tried to take the ground and the conditions out of the equation too, and prepared the best we could for the event at hand.
It was extremely tough not having any Pakistan support, because the one thing that really drives the Pakistan team is the incredible and unbelievable support they receive at grounds and hotels. You go around the world and you see the ‘Sea of green’, it’s truly amazing! Here we never had that, and that was quite tough in a World Cup, particularly for the players. As you can imagine it was a tough hostile environment in Ahmedabad, but we were expecting this, and to their credit our players never moaned or complained once, they cracked on and tried their best – nevertheless it ultimately does play a role in motivation when you can’t see or hear that support base around you.
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