ICC World Cup 2019: WAGs allowed to stay with Pakistan players after India match

The Pakistan team has been going through an issue surrounding the WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends), accompanying their partners during the course of the World Cup. Last month, their skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed made a request to allow family members to be with the players, but his appeal was turned down. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) gave them permission for the recent five-match ODI series against England.

The board didn’t seem to be in the mood to allow that during the mega event, barring a couple of exceptions in Haris Sohail and Asif Ali under special circumstances. Asif is expected to leave for Cardiff on Saturday to join the Pakistan team after attending the funeral of his two-year-old daughter, who unfortunately passed away due to Stage 4 cancer. Haris also had a family-related issue.

An official of the board mentioned that the WAGs need to make all the arrangements on their own if they are planning to stay with their better-halves during the World Cup. In the meantime, it has been understood that the PCB is considering the arrangement where WAGs stay with the players.

The provision for the same will only be applicable after Pakistan’s match against India on June 16 at the Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester. A PCB spokesperson confirmed the news and mentioned that the permission was granted after noticing the trend followed by the other participating teams.

Pakistan’s poor run of form

Pakistan has had a horrendous time in the current year, especially in the ODI format. First, the Men in Green suffered a shambolic 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Thereafter, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Co slumped to a 4-0 defeat versus Eoin Morgan’s England, despite their batsmen scoring in excess of 300 runs on most instances in the series.

To make things worse, yesterday, Pakistan lost their first warm-up match of the 2019 edition of the World Cup. Afghanistan defeated them by three wickets at the County Ground in Bristol with the encounter going down to the last over. Babar Azam was the standout player for the Men in Green but his century went in vain. Their next match is against Mashrafe Mortaza’s Bangladesh on May 26 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

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