File image of the Pakistan cricket team© AFP
Ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is exploring the possibility of sending a psychologist with the squad to India to cope with the pressures of the high-profile tournament. However, a final decision in this regard will be taken only after PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf’s meeting the captain Babar Azam. Azam is currently playing for Colombo Strikers in the Lanka Premier League (LPL).
“Zaka is a big believer that having a psychologist with the players will help them, especially when they are not performing well or feeling external pressures of a tour to India,” said a PCB official.
He said the presence of a psychologist is imperative for Pakistan since they are visiting India for the first time since 2016.
“When Zaka Ashraf was Chairman (of PCB) he had got a well-known psychologist Maqbool Babri to work with the players and he also went with them to India in 2012/13,” said the official.
The official said the Pakistan players had sessions with a sports psychologist before travelling to India for the 2011 World Cup.
Pakistan will be playing their World Cup 2023 matches in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
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