'Match-fixing saga took its toll on Pakistan': Mudassar

Former Pakistan opener Mudassar Nazar on Sunday revealed that his team faced immense pressure in the early 1990s as a defeat, especially against India, would inevitably spark suspicions of foul play and match-fixing among fans back home.

The Pakistan team of the 90s was one of the most talented squads of the time. It reached its zenith with the 1992 World Cup victory, capping off a decade of success in both Test and one-day formats.

But those days were also dominated by chatter around match-fixing and Mudassar feels the players became "increasingly fearful" of the public perception.

"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," Mudassar said in the closing remarks of the Cricket Predicta Conclave 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."

The 68-year-old Mudassar, who played for Pakistan from 1976 to 1989, aggregated 6767 runs in 76 Tests and 122 ODIs while also collecting 177 wickets across the two formats.

"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," he added.

A loss against India would complicate things more because of the intense rivalry between the two neighbouring nations.

"You add another factor there, which is the factor of playing against India. No Pakistani, no Indian, wanted to lose the game. We've seen that in Sharjah and that's why India versus Pakistan here was such a big event.

"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," Mudassar said.

Following the fixing allegations in the mid-90s, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had set up a judicial commission headed by Justice Malik Qayyum to probe into the claims.

After 18 months of inquiry, the commission recommended a life ban on former captain Salim Malik for fixing and pacer Ata-ur-Rehman for perjury.

It also recommended fines on some other players for not cooperating with the commission's inquiry.

Mudassar was in conversation with Pakistan legend Zaheer Abbas and former coach Dav Whatmore for the centenary episode of Cricket Predicta, the largest cricket live stats based show in Asia.