PCB’s decision to allow Pakistan players to have families ahead of India game irks Mohammad Yousuf

With the India-Pakistan marquee clash just a day away, the mercury is soaring high on both sides of the border. Former players and experts are busy predicting the winners and analysing the strengths and weaknesses of their favourite teams. In between all the talks, former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has lashed out at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for allowing the players of the squad to have their families stay with them during the tournament.

The PCB had earlier disallowed the families to accompany the players but after Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side slumped to a 41-run loss against Australia in Taunton on Wednesday, the board changed its mind and allowed the families to be with the players in Manchester ahead of the mega clash. This is the seventh time that India and Pakistan are playing each other in the World Cup with the Men in Blue having a 6-0 lead.

Board didn’t allow families to be with players during Yousuf’s playing days

Yousuf, who has played 288 ODIs for Pakistan between 1998 and 2010 and scored nearly 10,000 runs at an average of 41 plus, was not impressed with the PCB’s changed stance. He said the World Cup is a high-pressure tournament in which players need to focus on cricket. He said the PCB had rarely allowed the families to travel with the players during tours when he played, let alone the World Cup.

“I was part of the 1999, 2003 and 2007 World Cups but the board never allowed players to have their families with them during the tournament. In 1999 we had such a big team with so many big names that if we had pressurized the board to give permission to have our wives and children stay with us in team hotel they would have done so,” Timesnownews.com cited reports quoting Yousuf as saying.

“But we didn’t because the World Cup is high-pressure event and players need to just be focussed on cricket and reaching the final. That is what happened in 99′ in England.”

Yousuf, 44, said if the families were indeed allowed to be with the players, they should have been allowed to stay in the team hotel during the start of the tournament and not when it reached the business end.

Pakistan have three points from four matches so far with one win, two losses and one inconclusive game.