Pakistan Cricket Coach Slams India

Karachi:

Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam accused the Indian media of triggering and fanning the match-fixing debate and said the Pakistan Cricket Board should decide whether there is any need to restore cricketing ties with a neighbour which is "hell bent" on damaging them."The Indian media should be ashamed of itself for creating these stories about our team being involved in match-fixing in the Champions Trophy," a furious Alam said in an interview."All this stuff about our team being involved in match-fixing started because of a report in some Indian newspapers and since then they have carried out a relentless campaign to defame us," he said. "Maybe it is time we also reviewed our cricket relations with India and decided whether we really need to play them when they are hell bent on trying to damage us," said Alam, who had coached the Punjab Ranji team in India.Alam was shocked that a parliamentarian like Jamshed Dasti, who heads the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports, made a noise on the basis of the reports in India."The truth is that it is hard for the Indians to digest the fact that this year in two major tournaments their team, whom they tagged as favourites, was eliminated in the first round and our team not only won the Twenty20 World Cup but also reached the semifinal of the Champions Trophy," he said.