Mohammad Haris, who led Pakistan A to win in Emerging Asia Cup 2023 recently, has made a statement that will not go down well with Indian cricketers and fans. Haris' powered Pakistan A to a brilliant win in the final over India A to lift the trophy. The victory was hailed by the Pakistani fans. However, some critics said that it was more of a clash between 'senior players' from Pakistan vs the 'young brigade' from India. Pakistan had several players in their team who had played international cricketer including their captain Haris. Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Saim Ayub were other cricketers with little international exposure. But in the Indian team, the squad was filled with just youngsters. India A were led by Yash Dhull, who is just 20 years old.
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Haris has not taken the criticism of Pakistan having an added advantage over Indians thanks to their 'seniority. He rubbished such claims, saying that even those with international experience in the Pakistan side have only played a handful of matches and that too T20Is. Speaking in a Podcast, without taking Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)'s name, Haris said that Pakistan team never asked them to send 'little kids' to the tournament. "(Jis tarah log keh rahe hai ki woh bade leke aaye the, ham chote bachey the toh hamne toh nahi kaha tha ki aap chotey bache leke aao. Ye kehte hai ki aapka international experience tha. International experience kitna hai. Saim ke 5 matche hai, mere 6 match hai. Saare T20 hai. Inke team pe IPL ke 260 matches ka experience hai). 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 much international matches have we played but? Saim has played 5, I have played 6. Those guys (India players) have played 260 IPL matches," Haris said.
'Humne toh nahin kaha tha aap chotay larkay le ke aao' - Mohammad Haris __
Pakistan Shaheens captain Haris says India A had the opportunity to choose whichever squad they wanted to. He also says India A players had experience of 260 IPL matches _pic.twitter.com/QWNuLCVGO8
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) August 5, 2023
Not to forget, India A side had beaten Pakistan A earlier in the tournament and that too by a margin of eight wickets. However, in the final, the Indians could not deliver the same performance. India A had not lost a single game till the final. In the final, they lost to Pakistan A by a huge margin of 128 runs. Pakistan A put up 352 for 8 in 50 overs and India A were bundled out for just 224 in 40 overs.
