Former Pakistan cricketer Mudassar Nazar commented about the match-fixing cloud in cricket, adding that if his team lost a game to India, people back home assumed it was fixed.
Match-fixing has become increasingly prevalent in Pakistan in the twenty-first century, with players like as Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt, Sharjeel Khan, and Khalid Latif serving suspensions for their involvement.
“I believe Pakistan’s team in the 1990s was as talented as Australia’s. But it was pure fear of losing the game, and I’m going to be a little controversial here. The controversy stems from match manipulation.
The Pakistani
team faced a lot of strain because everyWhen they lost a game, people believed it was suspicious; the game was manipulated.
“They were unwilling to accept defeat to a superior team. So, at some point in the early 1990s, I was a member of that team that was afraid of losing the game, and that was entirely due to match fixing or the fear of people believing the match was fixed,
” Nazar said on the sidelines of a conclave held in Ajman (UAE) to commemorate the 100th episode of International cricket talk show Cricket Predicta.
Nazar, who played 76 Tests and 122 ODIs for Pakistan from 1976 to 1989, says the match-fixing scandal has taken its toll on the team’s results, which have experienced a severe drop across all
You add another factor: playing against India. No Pakistani or Indian would lose this game. We saw it in Sharjah, which is why the India- match was such a significant deal: nobody will lose to each other. That was undoubtedly true for the general population, but not for cricket.”
“There was a lot of pressure present. Unfortunately, the match-fixing scandal took a toll on the team.”
Do you think Pakistan might have hired a psychologist to deal with the increased pressure?
“I’ve never witnessed a psychologist win a cricket match. Many of the teams have hired psychologists all across the world. “But it’s never worked.”
