India afraid of losing, says Pak manager

Pakistan marked 50 years of Test cricket today with a bitter attack on arch-rivals India for severing cricketing ties with them.It was again...

Pakistan marked 50 years of Test cricket today with a bitter attack on arch-rivals India for severing cricketing ties with them.

It was against India that Pakistan played its first Test match on October 16, 1952 at New Delhi, but the two neighbours have not faced each other since May, 2000 due to the Indian government’s refusal in protest over Pakistani support to militancy in Kashmir. “India is afraid of losing to us on the cricket field,” said Pakistani team manager Khawaja Mohammad Nasir on the sidelines of the Test series against Australia here.

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“There can be no other reason. India lost to Pakistan in Sharjah, Australia and Bangladesh and suddenly decided to stop playing us. The Indian nation is emotional about losing to Pakistan at cricket. They are willing to face us in other sports like hockey, but do not want to play cricket.

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“India’s constant refusal is playing havoc with the game in Asia. It’s only a game and should not be a matter of life and death as India makes it out to be,” Nasir, a retired Brigadier of the Pakistan Army, said.

India is scheduled to play a Test series in Pakistan next April, but the tour is likely to fall through given the border tensions between the two neighbours.