The Pakistan Shaheens cricket team will begin its campaign in the eight-team ACC Men’s Emerging Teams T20 Asia Cup 2024 against India ‘A’ on Saturday at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground in Muscat, Oman. The tournament is set to begin today with two Group A fixtures as Bangladesh ‘A’ take on Hong Kong and Afghanistan ‘A’ lock horns with Sri Lanka ‘A’.
Mohammad Haris-led 15-member Shaheens team, which is placed in the Group B, will take on the hosts Oman on 21 October followed by their third group match against the United Arab Emirates on 23 October. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the semi-finals to be played on 25 October followed by the final on 26 October.
Pakistan Shaheens participated in a five-day training camp at the Hanif Mohammad National High-Performance Centre in Karachi before departing for Oman.
This is the first edition of the ACC Emerging Teams tournament which is set to take place in the T20 format as the previous five editions in the 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023 were played in the List-A format. Pakistan have won the tournament in 2019 under Saud Shakeel and in 2023 under Haris.
Apart from skipper Haris, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Rohail Nazir, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Omair Bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Moqim are the capped player in the Shaheens squad. Abdul Samad, Ahmed Daniyal, Yasir Khan and Zaman will represent the Shaheens for first time.
Mohammad Haris: “The Emerging Teams T20 Asia Cup is a great opportunity for all the players in the Shaheens squad to showcase their abilities and thrive under high pressure.
“All of our three group fixtures will test out our potential because the teams we are facing are highly competitive and the format we are playing requires proactiveness during all phases of the game.
“The players in our squad are coming into this tournament after having featured in two white-ball domestic tournaments and I expect them to hit the ground running when we take the field for our first game of the tournament on Saturday.”
Squad: Mohammad Haris (captain), Abdul Samad, Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohmmad Imran Jnr, Omair Bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Rohail Nazir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Moqim, Yasir Khan and Zaman Khan
Player support personnel: Umar Rasheed (head coach-cum-manager), Imran Farhat (batting coach), Riffatullah Mohmand (fielding coach), Usman Hashmi (analyst) and Syed Mohammad Asad (physiotherapist)
Shaheens fixtures in ACC Men’s Emerging Teams T20 Asia Cup
Group B
v India ‘A’ – 19 October, Oman Cricket Academy Ground (6.30pm PKT)
v Oman – 21 October, Oman Cricket Academy Ground (2pm PKT)
v UAE – 23 October, Oman Cricket Academy Ground (2pm PKT)
