WATCH- ‘We didn't asked India to send 'little kids' to Emerging Asia Cup 2023’- Pakistan A captain Mohammad Haris

Pakistan A won the tournament by defeating India A in the final.

Pakistan A captain Mohammad Haris, under whom the team recently won the Emerging Team’s Asia Cup 2023 in Sri Lanka, has responded to criticism of PCB fielding senior players with international cricket experience in the tournament, while the BCCI sent young and emerging players in their squad.

India A side had handed a one-sided defeat to Pakistan A in the league stage of the tournament by a margin of 8 wickets. However, when the two teams clashed once again, this time 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 with Tayyab Tahir slamming a century and India A were bundled out for just 224 in 40 overs.

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 cricketers including their captain Haris, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shahnawaz Dahani, and Saim Ayub amongst others.

India A included their 20-year-old captain Yash Dhull and likes of Sai Sudharsan, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Riyan Parag, and others who have not played international cricket yet.

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Reacting to the same criticism of the Pakistan side, Mohammad Haris retorted that nobody asked India to send small kids to the Emerging Teams Asia Cup tournament. He rubbished other claims pointing out that the Pakistani players have only played a handful of international games, while Indian youngsters had IPL experience behind them.

"(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, and I have played 6. Those guys (India players) have played 260 IPL matches," Haris said on a podcast.

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