Mohammad Masroor, the coach of the Pakistan Shaheens, discussed the “X-factor” that enabled the Men in Green to defeat India in today’s Emerging Asia Cup final in Colombo.
Under Mohammad Haris’ leadership, Pakistan defeated India by a huge margin of 128 runs to win the Asia Cup. Prior to that, Pakistan A suffered a lopsided defeat to India in their group encounter, with Sui Sadharsan striking a century to help the Blues win by eight wickets.
Masroor claimed that Pakistan did not play a full fledged side against India during the group round since they had already secured a spot in the semifinals. Yesterday’s final versus India was decided by Tayyab Tahir along with Sufiyan Muqeem. A total of 353 runs was set by Pakistan thanks to Tahir’s outstanding century.
Tahir attacked the Indian bowlers as well as scored 108 runs in just 71 deliveries with an innings of 12 fours and four sixes, saving Pakistan after they lost five wickets with only 187 runs. His striking percentage was an astounding 152.11.
Masroor spoke about the planning within the team, keeping in mind the final. He said, “We didn’t play our full strength team in group stage match against India because we had already qualified for the semis. We rested both Sufiyan Muqeem and Tayyab Tahir, they proved to be the surprise package for India today.”
India A run chase against Pakistan Shaheens
India got a strong start during the second inning, scoring 64 runs in its first seven overs without losing a wicket. With an exceedingly aggressive start, it appeared for a brief moment that the Blues would reach the goal, but then everything changed when Arshad Iqbal, the semi-final hero against Bangladesh A, dismissed Sudharsan for only 29 runs.
While capturing three crucial wickets, notably opener Abhishek Sharma, who made 61, skipper Yash Dhull, who ended up at 39, as well as Harshit Rana who could only score 13, and allowed only 66 runs in 10 overs, Sufiyan Muqeem caused all sorts of problems for the young India A side.
Fans react to Pakistan A coach calling Tayyab Tahir a surprise for Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023 Final:
"We didn't play our full strength team in group stage match against India because we had already qualified for the semis. We rested both Sufiyan Muqeem and Tayyab Tahir, they proved to be the surprise package for India today," Pakistan Shaheens' head coach Mohammad Masroor ?? pic.twitter.com/KQlaNgzBu8
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) July 23, 2023
Playing international players in emerging nation tournament against list A India team and winning with help of umpires ?
Disgraceful victory. pic.twitter.com/vy9n5XSBCH
— Indian ?? (@ShivamOswal) July 23, 2023
Excellent come back by Pakistan A, thoroughly impressive performance when it mattered.
Harris needs to mature alot as a leader, it seems to be impacting his performance, especially as a keeper, missing chances, getting too excited over nonevents at times
Zindabad ??
— Haider (@Ha1d3r1) July 23, 2023
Even we surprised to see tayyab tahir in an emerging team as his age is 30
— amardeep (@amardeepbeeru) July 24, 2023
I wonder why they always celebrate before time ???
— Ahmed Khan (@thebielalkhan) July 23, 2023
They didn't rested 29 year young emerging Taiyab Tahir
— URvashi (@URvashiPant77) July 23, 2023
— Rajat srivastva (@Rajatsriva64271) July 23, 2023
Congratulations Pak Uncles defeated indian Kids in final… Great character by Kids..
— Dr Vinay Dahake (@DahakeVinay) July 24, 2023
Tayab Tahir is 30 yrs old almost ??? still emerging … what a joke ?? this is showing low quality of Pakistan cricket.
— Shimpy Jha (@shimpy_jha) July 23, 2023
And we Indians didn't play even our 1 strong player all are freshers still reached final ?
— Ravindra Singh Rathore (@imrathore17) July 23, 2023
So they suprised us by playing uncle’s in emerging cup
— Srajannn (@1_srajan) July 23, 2023
Pakistan used IMF loans to pay umpires ?
— Wonder 18 (@itz_venky_18) July 23, 2023
