"Talking about team India has been banned"- Mohammad Haris on Pakistan dressing room

The captain of Pakistan in the Emerging Asia Cup 2024, Mohammad Haris, recently spoke about his team's chances in the upcoming tournament. Haris also revealed his team's plans for the match against India, which will be a highly anticipated clash.

The Emerging Asia Cup 2024 will be played from October 18 to October 26. The tournament is a great initiative by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to allow emerging players from all Asian countries to play against each other.

Pakistan are the defending champions of the tournament having clinched the title last year. Mohammad Haris was the team's captain last year as well and the 23-year-old has been retained this year too.

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Mohammad Haris speaks on facing India in the Emerging Asia Cup

Young wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris wants his team to focus on all the teams and not just India. He revealed that Pakistan is training equally for all the teams and claimed all of them are important.

"India is not our main target. We have to play the whole tournament. Our matches are against Oman and UAE as well along with India. All the teams are important for us. We are preparing equally for all of them. There is no separate preparation for any specific team. The players can be different for the different teams but the preparation is the same," Haris stated.

Haris also spoke about being the captain in the Emerging Asia Cup for the second time in a row. He mentioned that his focus is on winning the trophy and not about anything else in the future.

"I was the captain last year as well. The Board is investing in me and my job is to provide the performances that they are expecting from me. I will try to do my best in the Emerging Asia Cup.

"My focus is on the Emerging Asia Cup. I don't think of the future and just try to think about the future. I will try to avail the opportunities that I get in the future," he added.

Humare Dressing Room Mein India Par Baat Karne Pe Pabandi Hai;

Captain Pakistan Emerging Team Muhammad Haris. pic.twitter.com/rrD3HIlyTI

— Shahzaib Ali 🇵🇰 (@DSBcricket) October 15, 2024

Mohammad Haris reveals his batting position in the Emerging Asia Cup

The 23-year-old also revealed his batting position in the team where he stated that he would be opening the batting. He claimed that all the players were fit to go and did well in the fitness tests.

"I will play as an opener in this team. We have other openers in the squad like Yasir Khan and Maaz Sadaqat as well. All of the players in this team are fit since they are emerging. They recently gave their fitness tests and came 80-90 percent fit," Haris said to the reporters before the tournament.

Mohammad Haris was further asked about leading a team that has Babar Azam and Shan Masood in the Playing XI. He spoke about the experience of leading a star-studded team in the Champions Cup.

"Leading players like Babar Azam and Shan Masood in the Champions Cup was definitely helpful. I learned a lot from that experience and I want to keep on learning in this edition of the Emerging Asia Cup. Leading different players and working with different coaches help me to learn a lot," he noted.

"Talking about India has been banned" - Mohammad Haris

The young wicketkeeper-batter further revealed a shocking decision by the management that talking about India is banned in Pakistan dressing room.

He believes that Indian matches put too much pressure on the team and they cannot play their natural cricket.

"Talking about India has been banned in this dressing room and this will be the first time that it will be happening. We won't think just about India but about the other teams as well," Haris said.

"I have been in the Pakistan team myself and I have seen the players taking a lot of pressure for India matches which does not help mentally. So, we haven't talked anything about India so far. We want to play well against all the teams," he added.

Mohammad Haris is a talented young batter who is seen as a potential candidate for the captaincy role in the future. The Emerging Asia Cup will be played in the T20 format this year unlike the ODI format last year.

Haris has played 9 T20Is so far and scored 126 runs at an average of 14 and a strike rate of 127.27. The youngster has also played 6 ODIs in which he has scored just 30 runs at an average of 7.50.