Mohali: The World Cup semifinal between India and Pakistan here Wednesday has given an opportunity to local boys Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh to meet their family and friends and take their minds off the high-pressure game.

According to the Chandigarh police, both cricketers Saturday night took permission to go out of the Taj Hotel, where Indian team is staying. Yuvraj went to meet his family and friends in Chandigarh whereas Harbhajan drove all the way to Jalandhar town in Punjab, around 150 km from here, to meet his mother.

"Both the cricketers had taken prior permission from Chandigarh police. Our security personnel had accompanied Yuvraj Singh and we had called an escort of Punjab Police to take Harbhajan Singh to Jalandhar. There was no security goof-up," Roshan Lal, Chandigarh deputy superintendent of police, who is supervising the security arrangements at the Taj Hotel, told IANS Sunday.

Harbhajan Singh is expected to join the Indian team at the hotel Monday.

Besides, there were reports that Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi had also sneaked out of the hotel to visit a discotheque but Lal refuted this.

"This is baseless. Afridi was in his room and he did not go anywhere outside the hotel," stated Lal.

Though Harbhajan Singh belongs to Jalandhar, a few years ago he had bought a house in Sector 9, one of Chandigarh's most upscale sectors.