LAHORE, May 17: Members of the Pakistan cricket squad performed normal religious activities during the World Cup and it had nothing to do with the exit of the team from the mega event in the West Indies.

This was stated by Ejaz Butt, chairman of the Performance Evaluation Committee (PEC), investigating the shocking exit of Pakistan at the World Cup.

“No extraordinary religious activities were seen in the team, especially among some players and all of them were involved in offering routine prayers,” Ijaz told a news conference here.

He added that even late Bob Woolmer termed the offering of prayers a healthy sign to keep the team united.

“He (Woolmer) was happy to see the players assembled for prayers and never mentioned any growing trend in religious activities as all such criticism coming from certain quarters is a part of a baseless propaganda,” he expressed.

Ejaz said Pakistan’s media manager at the World Cup P J Mir damaged the reputation of the team by giving illogical statements pointing out extreme religious trend in the team. “There was nothing wrong to offer prayers five times daily; every Muslim follows it and if someone criticises the players for fulfilling normal religious obligations he is wrong,” he insisted.—APP