Pakistan players heading home Saturday morning

LONDON: Two years ago, Pakistan returned home from England triumphant. Sarfraz Ahmed and his men were treated like national heroes when they landed in Pakistan after winning the ICC Champions Trophy by thrashing old foes India by 180 runs in the final here at The Oval.

On Saturday morning, they will head home in totally different circumstances after failing to qualify for the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup. Pakistan had to pay the price of a catastrophic seven-wicket defeat against West Indies in their opening match while back-to-back losses against Australia and India also dented their campaign to the extent that even victories in their last four games couldn’t save Pakistan from exiting the ten-nation tournament at the first hurdle.

Pakistan were edged by New Zealand in the race for the semi-finals just because the Black Cap had a superior net run-rate. After Pakistan’s failure to put up the sort of gigantic total they needed to score against Bangladesh to stay alive, New Zealand joined Australia, India and England in the semi-finals.

Baring some of the players and head coach Mickey Arthur, the rest of Pakistan’s World Cup squad will return to Pakistan on Saturday morning. Arthur is instead returning to his home country – South Africa – on a week-long personal leave. He will return to Lahore by the mid of July.

Seasoned duo of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, both of whom failed to impress in the World Cup, have decided against returning home. They will stay on in England with pacers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz.

Amir’s wife is from England and he has a home here. Wahab is staying back as he will undergo a minor procedure on his right hand at a local hospital. Wahab broke his finger during a fielding drill last Thursday but played in back-to-back games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Azhar Mahmood, Pakistan’s bowling coach, will also stay back in England.