Mudassar Nazar, a former Pakistani cricketer, talked about the issue of match-fixing in cricket. He mentioned that whenever his team lost to India, people in Pakistan would suspect that the match was fixed. Match-fixing has been a big problem for Pakistan in recent years, with players like Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt, Sharjeel Khan, and Khalid Latif being banned for their involvement. Mudassar said, “If you look at Pakistan’s team in the 90s, they were just as talented as Australia in the 90s. But there was a strong fear of losing, and I’m going to say something a bit controversial here. The controversy is related to match-fixing. There was a lot of pressure on the Pakistan team because every time they lost, people thought the game was suspicious or fixed.”
“No one wanted to admit that they actually lost to a stronger team. So, in the early 90s, I was part of a team that was scared of losing, and that fear was because of match-fixing or worrying that people might think the game was fixed,” Nazar said during a conclave in Ajman (UAE) celebrating the 100th episode of the International cricket talk show – cricket predicta.
Nazar, who played 76 Test matches and 122 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Pakistan from 1976 to 1989, also thinks the match-fixing issue has hurt the team’s performance, which has dropped significantly in all formats over the past year and a half.
“Another factor is playing against India. No Pakistani or Indian wants to lose this game. We’ve seen this in Sharjah, and that’s why India vs. Pakistan matches were such a big deal – no one wanted to lose to the other. This wasn’t just about cricket, but also about the general public.”
“There was a lot of stress there. Sadly, the match-fixing scandal really affected the Pakistan team.”
Do you think Pakistan could have hired a psychologist to handle the extra stress?
“I’ve never seen a psychologist help win a cricket game. Many teams around the world have used psychologists, but it hasn’t made a difference.”
