File photo of India vs Pakistan game.© AFP
Former Pakistan cricketer Mudassar Nazar spoke on the match-fixing cloud in cricket, saying every time his team lost a game to India, people back home used to think the match was fixed. Match-fixing has haunted Pakistan more in this part of the 21st century, with players like Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt, Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif serving bans for their involvement in it. "I think if you look at Pakistan's team in the 90s, they were, talent-wise, as good as Australia in the 90s. But it was a sheer fear factor of losing the game, and I'm going to be a little bit controversial here. The controversy is behind match fixing. There was a lot of pressure on the Pakistan team because every time they lost a game, people thought the game was dubious, the game was fixed."
"Nobody was prepared to accept that they actually lost to a better team. So, at some stage in the early 90s, I was part of that team which was fearful of losing the game, and that was entirely due to match fixing or fear of people believing the match was fixed," said Nazar on the sidelines of the conclave organised in Ajman (UAE) to celebrate the 100th episode of International cricket talk show - cricket predicta.
Nazar, who played 76 Tests and 122 ODIs for Pakistan from 1976 to 1989, also believes the match-fixing saga has taken its toll on the team's performances, which have seen a sharp dip across all formats in the last year and a half.
"You add another factor there, which is the factor of playing against India. No Pakistani, no Indian, would to lose this game. We've seen that in Sharjah and that's why it was such a big event - India v Pakistan - nobody will lose against each other. That wasn't the case with the cricket, but with the general public probably."
"There was a lot of pressure there. Unfortunately, the match fixing saga took its toll on Pakistan team."
You think Pakistan could have recruited a psychologist to cope up with the additional pressure?
"I have never seen a psychologist win a cricket match. A lot of the teams have employed psychologists all over the world. But it has never worked."
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