Cricket Update: Afghanistan coach Rashif Latif challenges Pakistan for a re-match
Ever since the minnows Afghanistan defeated http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the semi-finals of the T20 cricket event in the Asian Games, all sorts of rumours have been generating, some calling the Afghan victory a fluke while others calling it an outcome of match-fixing.
Both Pakistani and Afghan team managements have played down the prospects of that match being fixed. But owing to the growing criticism, the Afghan coach and former Pakistan captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rashid-Latif-c84084 has challenged the same Pakistan squad to a re-match with his
team. He said, “My challenge is we will beat the same Pakistan team again. All this talk about the match being fixed is degrading the hard work of the Afghani players."
Latif categorically refused the possibility of any foul play in the Asian games and made it clear that his side won the semi-final fair and square. The Afghan coach feels that calling his side’s victory a fluke is unjustified because his boys put a lot of
effort in the match and it was due to those efforts that the team beat the favourite team of the event.
Earlier, the founder of Eleven Star Cricket Club Islamabad Javed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ali-Khan-c996 had suggested the possibility of match-fixing in the clash between the two sides. He sent a formal application to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to look into the outcome of the match.
The board, on the other hand, asked him if he had any substantial evidence to support his claims.
Khan also accused the Pakistan captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khalid-Latif-c71261 of having close ties with Rashid Latif and suspected that Latif may have influenced Khalid to play slow against Afghanistan.
On Khan’s accusations Latif said, “Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone can say what they like. I can only say I challenge them for a rematch at any venue and I know for certain we will beat them again by a bigger margin this time."
Latif defended his team by saying that there was enormous talent for cricket in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 and his players have the ability to outwit any team in the world because the players are playing cricket with great passion and it’s no secret that with passion comes
success in sports.
The Afghanistan coach was pretty much confident that in a re-match his side will pulverise the Pakistan squad. Re-match or no re-match, one thing is certain that PCB needs to look into the matter seriously and make sure that there was no foul play in the
match, so that the credibility of both teams could be established.
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