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Mohammad Haris reviews Pakistan Shaheens’ title triumph in Sri Lanka
Colombo, 24 July 2023:
Pakistan Shaheens have departed from Sri Lanka today after successfully defending ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup title. Shaheens defeated India A in the final by a comprehensive 128-run margin at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday evening.
The star of the final was the right-handed batter Tayyab Tahir, who scored a match-winning century.
Eight teams featured in the 50-over tournament which was held in Colombo from 13 to 23 July. The teams were divided into two pools, with Afghanistan A, Bangladesh A, Oman A and Sri Lanka A forming Group A, while Pakistan Shaheens along with India A, Nepal and UAE A, were in Group B.
Shaheens finished second in their group, beating Nepal and UAE A by four wickets and 184 runs, respectively. In the third fixture, Shaheens went down against India A by eight wickets.
Top two teams from each group qualified for the semi-finals held on Friday, 21 July. Sri Lanka A, table-toppers from Group A, took on Pakistan Shaheens, while India A, who finished at the top of Group B, played Bangladesh A.
After going down to India A, Shaheens staged a remarkable comeback and defeated Sri Lanka A by 60 runs to qualify for their second successive final. Arshad Iqbal’s maiden List A five wicket haul and Omair Bin Yousuf’s 88 lifted Shaheens to victory.
In the final, Shaheens were unstoppable from the first ball of the match, and a comprehensive all-round performance led by Tayyab’s century guided Shaheens to lift the trophy.
In the batting charts, three Shaheens batters finished among the top 10 batters of the tournament. Tayyab, who occupied fifth spot, scored 190 runs from four outings, at a strike rate of 110.46. He struck 22 fours and four sixes in the tournament and also scored one century and one half-century. Tayyab complemented his batting with good fielding, taking four catches. Omair Bin Yousuf amassed 183 runs from five matches at an average of 36.60, which included one half-century. He also took four catches over the course of the tournament.
Pakistan Shaheens’ opening pair of Sahibzada Farhan (4 matches, 175 runs, 2x50s, 43.75 avg) and Saim Ayub (5 matches, 161 runs, 2x50s, 32.20 avg) were the other notable contributors with the bat.
In the bowling unit, left-arm wrist spinner Sufiyan Muqeem was the most successful bowler for Shaheens, grabbing eight wickets from three matches at an economy rate of 5.06. He registered three-fers on two occasions including the important spell of three for 66 in the final. Right-arm fast Arshad bagged seven wickets from three outings in the tournament, which included a five-fer against Sri Lanka A in the first semi-final.
Right-arm off-spinner Qasim Akram etched the best match figures in the tournament with 10-1-26-6 in Shaheens’ 184-run win over UAE A. Shahnawaz Dahani was other Shaheens bowler to take a five-wicket haul. He achieved that feat in Shaheens’ opening match of the tournament against Nepal.
After successfully defending the title, wicketkeeper-batter and captain Mohammad Haris talked exclusively to PCB Digital. Haris, behind the stumps, had six dismissals to his name, which included four catches and two stumpings.
Mohammad Haris said: “We are all very excited after beating India A in the final. The good thing is the senior team is here and they too celebrating the win, providing us with extra motivation.
“When we lost against India A in the group stage, it gave us a good wake-up call, and there is always a great learning from the loss. We were confident in our ability to learn from our mistakes and were determined to beat India A in the final.
“The players responded exceptionally well as we tried different combinations in the tournament. We tried to give ample opportunities to players and the team benefitted significantly.
“The support staff worked really hard with the players, during the camp in Lahore and here in Sri Lanka. They backed the players, worked tirelessly with them and the results are for everyone to see.
“I had talked to a few Pakistan men’s senior players before the final. Babar Azam’s pep talk to the team on the eve of the final greatly motivated the players.
“For me the win was very satisfying as I have participated in two finals (ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup), and now with the ACC title triumph, I will celebrate this win in a grand manner.”