Afghan coach Rashid Latif challenges Pak to a rematch

KARACHI - Afghanistan cricket coach and former Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif has challenged Pakistan for a rematch after it was alleged that the Twenty20 match between the two teams in the Guangzhou Asian Games had been fixed.

A furious Rashid said that his players’ win over their much-fancied opponents in the semi-finals of the T20 cricket competition in last month’s Asian Games was not a fluke.

“My challenge is we will beat the same Pakistan team again. All this talk about the match being fixed is degrading for the hard working Afghan players,” the Dawn quoted him, as saying.

Since Pakistan lost at the hands of newcomers Afghanistan in the last four of the Asian Games, there has been speculation in the Pakistan media that the match was fixed.

“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,” Rashid said.

He said the Afghanistan team could even pose a hard time to the Pakistani national team as they play with lot of passion and pride on the ground.

“That is something that is lacking in this Pakistan team right now,” he stated.(ANI)