Pakistan marked 50 years of Test cricket today with a bitter attack on arch-rivals India for severing ties with them. It was against their neighbours India that Pakistan played their first Test, at New Delhi on October 16, 1952 – but the two countries have not faced each other since May 2000, after the Indian government refused to sanction a meeting in protest at Pakistan's alleged support to militants in Kashmir. "India are afraid of losing to us on the cricket field," said Pakistan's new team manager Khawaja Mohammad Nasir during a break in the Test series against Australia. "There can be no other reason. India lost to Pakistan in Sharjah, Australia and Bangladesh and suddenly decided to stop playing us. The Indian nation is emotional about losing to Pakistan at cricket. They are willing to face us in other sports like hockey, but do not want to play cricket.

"India's constant refusal is playing havoc with the game in Asia," said Nasir, a retired brigadier in the Pakistani army. "It's only a game, and should not be a matter of life and death as India makes it out to be."

India are scheduled to play a Test series in Pakistan next April, but the tour is likely to fall through given the border tensions between the two.

Waqar Younis, Pakistan's captain, said it was unfortunate that his country's golden-jubilee series had to be played at neutral venues in Sri Lanka and Sharjah after Australia declined to tour Pakistan for security reasons. "It would have been a grand affair had the series been played at home as scheduled," he said. "It's not a healthy sign. We must play at home. I agree there were some problems for teams touring Pakistan, but it will be great if we can play Test matches at home again."

Australia refused to play in Pakistan after a car-bomb killed several foreigners outside New Zealand's team hotel in Karachi in May.

Pakistan cricket, the high point of which was the World Cup triumph under Imran Khan in 1992, has been dogged over the years by allegations of ball-tampering, match-fixing and bitter internal battles in the national team.

But Waqar insisted that Pakistan should not be singled out. "There were allegations of ball-tampering against former England captain Mike Atherton, and the match-fixing scandal hit South Africa, Australia, India and Sri Lanka as well," he said. "Cricket just seems to attract a lot of controversy. We have had it, so have the others."

Pakistan's celebrations were almost marred by the dramatic departure of Lt-Gen. Tauqir Zia, the Pakistan Cricket Board chief. He offered his resignation earlier this week after Pakistan slumped to record lows of 59 and 53 – the two lowest totals in their history – to lose the second Test to Australia in Sharjah inside two days.

Zia was, however, reinstated by Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, a move that brought immense relief to the cricketers here. "It's a great relief that General Zia is back," said manager Nasir. "He is a man of great honour and accepted responsibility for the defeat, deflecting criticism from the young team onto himself.

"It is now time for the boys to prove their worth on the field. We are going to fight in the final Test, which starts on Saturday. It [the heavy defeat in the second Test] has happened once, it will not happen again."

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd