After beating India ‘A’ by 128 runs in the finals of the ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup, Pakistan ‘A’ was able to defend their title. Fans criticised Pakistan for entering the competition with a more seasoned team that had seven players with international experience. On the contrary, no member of the India ‘A’ team had ever played for their country abroad.
Mohammad Haris, the captain of the Pakistan Shaheens, responded to the critics by stating that he and his colleagues had only participated in a few T20 Internationals before the competition and that India had not been asked to send out a young team in the competition.
Uncapped players who had performed well within the Indian Premier League as well as the domestic level were included in the team that was selected by the Indian Cricket Board for the eight-team competition. Yash Dhull, who only took part in four IPL games, was selected to captain the group of players, whose average age was 20.80.
The Pakistan A team, on the opposite hand, had a 23.20 average age. Mohammad Haris, who participated in his final of 14 international contests versus the West Indies in May, served as the captain of the Men in Green.
“We did not ask them to send little kids to the tournament.” : Mohammad Harris
Mohammad Harris spoke to the Zee News after winning the tournament. He said, “People are saying that Pakistan sent A team with many seniors. We did not ask them to send little kids to the tournament. They say that we had international experience in our team. How many international matches have we played but? Saim has played 5, and I have played 6. Those guys (India players) have played 260 IPL matches.”
The Pakistan A roster of players had participated in 85 matches for the national team. The most seasoned player was bowling all-rounder Mohammad Wasim Jr., who has appeared in two Tests, 14 ODIs, and 27 T20 Internationals.
India A performed admirably in the competition by going undefeated all the way to the finals. They outperformed Pakistan in the group stage, successfully pursuing a 206-run total with eight wickets as well as 80 balls remaining.
