We did not ask India to send ‘little kids’ for Emerging Asia Cup, says Pakistan’s Mohammad Haris

Mohammad Haris has expressed dissatisfaction over the reception of his team Pakistan Shaheens’ win against India A in the final of the ACC Men’s Emerging Cup, saying they did not ask the Indian board to send “little kids” to the tournament. Pakistan defeated India by a huge margin of 128 runs in the summit clash to win the trophy, but there was some criticism for the winners since they had plenty of players with international experience compared to a young Indian side.

Wicketkeeper-batter Haris has so far played five ODIs and nine T20Is while the team also featured Mohammad Wasim Jr, who has played two Tests, 14 ODIs and 17 T20Is for Pakistan. Wasim Jr took 2/26 and scored 17 not out in the final.

Haris, who was among eight international players in the Pakistan Shaheens’ squad, questioned the Indian cricket board.

“Did we ask the Indian board to send little kids to the tournament?” Haris said in a podcast.

Haris said he was upset because of people saying that the Pakistan team won since it had more senior and experienced players compared to the Indian outfit.

“We had players who have hardly played a few games for the senior team, but if you look at their side, most of their players have appeared in around 200 IPL matches,” he claimed. “They say that we had international experience in our team. How many international matches have we played? Saim has played 5, I have played 6. Those guys (India players) have played 260 IPL matches,” Haris said. The Pakistan squad featured opening batter Saim Ayub who has played eight T20Is, Tayyab Tahir (three T20Is), Shahnawaz Dahani (two ODIs and 11 T20Is), 27-year-old Aamir Jamal (two T20Is) and Arshad Iqbal (one T20I).

The Indian team, captained by Yash Dhull, had no player with international experience while it had those who have featured in the Indian Premier League such as B Sai Sudharsan, Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana and Rajvardhan Hangargekar.