‘It was extremely tough’: Mickey Arthur on hostile Ahmedabad crowd during India vs Pakistan World Cup match

Former Pakistan team director, Mickey Arthur, said that playing against India in the ODI World Cup in front of the “hostile crowd” in Ahmedabad was very difficult.

“It was extremely tough not having any Pakistan support. The one thing that really drives the Pakistan team is the incredible support they receive at grounds and hotels,” Arthur was quoted as saying by the Wisden.

“Here we never had that, and that was quite tough in a World Cup, particularly for the players,” he said.

“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,” he added.

Arthur also blamed the outside noise for Pakistan’s poor campaign in the ODI World Cup.

“The outside noise with Pakistan is incredible, you just have to check your Twitter feed to see so many fires that are ignited out there, that have absolutely no truth attached to them,” he said.

“You end up – and I found this out the first time – you’re just constantly extinguishing those fires and chasing your tail. What we knew within our team was our game plan, and the defined roles that the players had, and we cracked on with it.

There were unequivocally no massive disagreements with the players,” Arthur added.

Arthur also spoke about the his role as with the Pakistan team as director while holding on to his job with English county Derbyshire.

“Anybody who knows me will also know that I will not commit 100 per cent if I can’t do it. With Pakistan I was never an ‘online coach’ as I put together the coaching staff, I was in constant contact with them every single day and knew exactly what was going on within the team,” said Arthur.

“I trust Najam Sethi implicitly. We have a very good relationship, and I went in to try and help him because I owe him a lot. He’s the one who gave me my opportunity to return to international cricket after I had been sacked by Australia.

“He and I built up a good relationship. One of the reasons I returned was to specifically work with Najam again,” he said.

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