Did Pakistani players stay out of hotel before match against India? This is what PCB said

Amid online outrage after a video of Pakistani players at a cafe and captain Sarfaraz Ahmed yawning on the field in the match against India in the ICC World Cup, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said its players did not stay out of the team hotel beyond the curfew time the night before the crucial encounter after videos circulated on the social media claimed otherwise.

A video of Pakistani players at a cafe and captain Sarfaraz Ahmed yawning on the field in the match against India have become big discussion points in Pakistan following the 89-run loss to arch-rivals in Manchester on Sunday.

"The video under discussion was of two days back. On the night before the match, all the players were in their rooms before curfew time," a spokesman for the PCB made it clear that no player had violated the curfew timings set by the team management.

The video in which Shoaib Malik and his Indian tennis star wife Sania Mirza are seen with Wahab Riaz and Imam-ul-Haq has led to different theories and stories on social and mainstream media.

Shoaib Malik of the #pakistancricketteam at midnight, hours before the most crucial match of the #CricketWorldCup2019 In Curry Mile In a Shisha cafe. Add the burgers and deserts, no wonder they performed dismally at Old Trafford. They should be ashamed. Every single one of them. pic.twitter.com/Dr8gHWdF9M

— Mohammed Shafiq (@mshafiquk) June 16, 2019

He also said that players went out with their families after taking due permission from the team manager.

The viral video has also led to Indian tennis star Sania tweeting that whoever recorded the video had not done the right thing as it was an invasion of privacy and that players eating out with their families was not a crime.

There has also been a discussion on Sarfaraz yawning on the field and many have questioned whether the PCB's decision to allow players to have their wives and children stay with them in the World Cup was right.

(With PTI inputs)