Accusing India of "intransigence", Pakistan says there is little chance for an India-Pakistan cricket series in the near future. "The Indian Government's intransigence is the main hurdle in the resumption of the Pakistan-India cricket series," Pakistan's Sports Minister, Col SK Tressler told reporters in Islamabad on Friday night.

"The Pakistan Government and the country's cricket board wanted to have cricket ties with India. But perhaps the Indian Government right now is suffering from a defeat phobia in the cricket field," Tressler was quoted by the official APP news agency as saying.

"As such there is very little scope for the teams of the two countries to play," he said adding that "still the ball is in the Indian Government's court as far as the resumption of the cricket ties between the two countries are concerned."

Describing cricket as "an expression of the nation's sentiments", India's Sports Minister Uma Bharti is on record saying the ban on bilateral series with Pakistan would continue for the present.

© PTI