Pakistan Shaheens' coach Mohammad Masroor talked about the X-factor that helped the Men in Green win against India today in the Emerging Asia Cup final in Colombo.
Pakistan grabbed the victory against India by a massive margin of 128 runs and won the title under the captaincy of Mohammad Haris.
Earlier, Pakistan A lost the group match against India in a very one-sided fashion as the Blues grabbed the victory by eight wickets with Sui Sadharsan scoring a century.
However, Masroor said that Pakistan did not play a full-strength team against India in the group stage because they had already qualified for the semis.
"We didn't play our full strength team in group stage match against India because we had already qualified for the semis. We rested both Sufiyan Muqeem and Tayyab Tahir, they proved to be the surprise package for India today," Masroor said.
Tayyab Tahir and Sufiyan Muqeem were the difference maker in the final against India today.
Pakistan set up a target of 353 runs courtesy of Tahir’s brilliant century.
Pakistan were in a precarious position after losing five wickets for just 187 runs but Tahir took the attack to the Indian bowlers and scored 108 runs in only 71 balls with the help of 12 fours and four sixes. He had an impressive strike rate of 152.11.
Meanwhile, in the second inning, India had a very good start as they had not lose a wicket in the first seven overs while scoring 64. At one point, after a very aggressive start, it felt like the Blues will complete the target but then the change in fortune happened as Arshad Iqbal — the hero of the semi-final against Bangladesh A — removed Sudharsan for just 29 runs.
On the other hand, Sufiyan Muqeem caused all kinds of troubles for the Blues by taking three important wickets including opener Abhishek Sharma, who scored 61, captain Yash Dull, who was set at 39 off 41, and Harshit Rana, 13, while conceding 66 runs in 10 overs.