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Karachi – Pakistan manager Zafar Altaf slammed the national media yesterday over match-fixing allegations against his players after their humiliating defeat by Australia in the World Cup cricket final.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves [media men],” he told a news conference before storming out of the arrival lounge at Karachi airport.

“A team comprising mostly youngsters reached the final and instead of praising their performance, you are levelling baseless accusations,” he said as ten of the squad of 15 returned amid tight security.

About 200 armed commandos were deployed outside the airport but they could not prevent a crowd of more than 5 000 chanting slogans against captain Wasim Akram, who stayed in England to play league cricket.

“Match-fixers are back,” the crowd shouted.

Pakistan lost the final at Lord’s by eight wickets when they were bundled out for 132 in 39 of their 50 overs and Australia reached the target in 20.1 overs.

Pundits and fans are demanding a probe into the team’s performance after several local newspapers claimed Pakistan’s players sold the final last Sunday for 400 million rupees (US$8 million).