Pakistan A skipper Haris reveals how team prepared for final against India A

After leading his team to a second successive title at the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup with a clinical victory over India A in the final, Pakistan A captain Mohammad Haris revealed his team had prepared for the final by watching clips of opposition batters.

Pakistan A dominated India A in all three deparments in the summit clash at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday, amassing a score of 352/8 after being invited to bat before bundling their arch-rivals out for 224.

Haris, who is among several members of the Pakistani squad with international experience at the senior level, added that the team’s primary focus was on opening batters B Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek Sharma. The wicketkeeper-batter added that scoring a total in excess of 350 helped them exert scoreboard pressure on their opponents, which played a major role in the victory.

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“Firstly, I would like to congratulate all of Pakistan. This is what happens, when you score big runs in a final, the opposition comes under pressure and then if you get back-to-back wickets it gets tough for them. We had tried different combinations in the last four-five matches, tried different players, and it worked well for us.

“We had shown the videos of the Indian batters to our bowlers. Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek were their main players and we thought that if we could get them out early, it would help us. I am very happy with how the boys are motivated. We have the Asia Cup also coming up and the World Cup too after that. Sri Lanka is a tough place to play spin. So it was good preparation,” Haris, who has played five ODIs and nine T20Is at the senior level, said during the post-match presentation.

India A had defeated Pakistan A by eight wickets earlier in the tournament, with Sai Sudharsan smashing an unbeaten 104 to help the Men in Blue chase down the 206-run target with nearly 14 overs to spare.

On Sunday, it was Tayyib Tahir’s turn to produce a match-winning hundred, collecting a 71-ball 108 to guide his team past 300 after openers Saim Ayub (59) and Sahibzada Farhan (65) had provided a solid start with a 121-run opening partnership.

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Sudharsan and Abhishek then got India off to a promising start with a 64-run opening stand, but the Pakistanis kept collecting wickets at regular intervals thereafter to ensure they fell well short of the target in the end.