NEWS
Follow UsRecently, senior Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman was issued a show cause notice for publicly criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for dropping Babar Azam. Now, as Pakistan A prepare for the Emerging Asia Cup T20 tournament, starting October 18 (Friday), their skipper Mohammad Haris has revealed that they have been banned from talking about India in the dressing room.
The Pakistan Shaheens take on India A in their tournament opener on October 19 (Saturday). UAE and hosts Oman are the other two teams in the group.
"Aapko ek baat batau. Pehli dafa hoga ke iss dressing room mei Bharat par baat karne pe pabandi hai [I will tell you one thing; it's the first time ever that we are not allowed to talk about India in the dressing room]," Haris said in a video that has gone viral on social media.
Haris, who has played six One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and nine T20 Internationals (T20Is) so far, says that speaking of just India in the dressing room creates additional pressure.
"We don't have to think [only] about India, we have to think about other teams as well. I have been in the [senior] Pakistan team, played the last World Cup as well. It creates so much pressure that mentally, you are thinking about India. We have to face other teams as well," he said.
"So this team is currently banned [from talking about India]. We have not talked about India so far in the dressing room. Not just India, we have to respect other teams as well."
India will be led by Tilak Varma in the eight-team tournament, with Abhishek Sharma named as his deputy. After the Pakistan clash, India will take on UAE on October 21 and Oman on October 23. All the matches will be played at the Oman Cricket Academy, Al Amarat.
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