Sharjah: Pakistan marked 50 years of Test cricket on Wednesday with a bitter attack on arch rivals India for severing cricketing ties with it.

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 alleged 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.

"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.

"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 warring neighbours.

Pakistan captain Waqar Younis said it was unfortunate his country's golden jubilee series had to be played at neutral venues in Sri Lanka and Sharjah after Australia declined to tour Pakistan for security concerns.

"It would have been a grand affair had the series been played at home as scheduled," Waqar said. "It's not a healthy sign. We must play at home. I agree there were some problems for teams touring Pakistan but it will be great if we can play Test matches at home again."

Pakistani cricket, whose high point was the World Cup triumph in 1992, has been dogged over the years by allegations of ball tampering, match-fixing and bitter internal battles in the national team.

But Waqar insisted Pakistan should not be singled out since controversy in cricket affected almost every country. "There were allegations of ball tampering against former England captain Mike Atherton and the match-fixing scandal hit South Africa, Australia, India and Sri Lanka as well," he said.

"Cricket just seems to attract a lot of controversy. We have had it, so have the others." Pakistan's celebrations were almost marred by the dramatic resignation of cricket Board chief, General Tauqir Zia, earlier this week after Pakistan slumped to record lows of 59 and 53 to lose the second Test to Australia inside two days.

Zia was, however, reinstated by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, a move that brought immense relief to the cricketers. "Its a great relief that General Zia is back," manager Nasir said.

"He is a man of great honour and accepted responsibility for the defeat, deflecting criticism from the young team onto himself. It is now time for the boys to prove their worth on the field. We are going to fight in the final Test, which starts on Saturday.

"It (the heavy defeat in the second Test) has happened once, it will not happen again."

Copyright AFP 2001

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