IND A vs PAK A Emerging Asia Cup Final: Awards List, Man of Match, Man of the Series as Pakistan thrash India

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Pakistan A defended the Emerging Asia Cup title by beating arch-rivals India by 128 runs in the mega final at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.

Pakistan A posted 352/8 on the board after being asked to bat first. Tayyab Tahir smashed 108 runs off just 71 balls to push India completely out of the match. His innings included 12 fours and four sixes. Openers Saim Ayub (59 off 51) and Sahibzada Farhan (65 off 62) hit a fifty each.

India were in hunt of the stiff chase until the 19th over but things soon turned south after the departure of Abhishek Sharma - India's best batter in the match who scored 61 off 51 balls. From 132/2 in 19.4 overs, India were bundled out for 224 in 40 overs. Left-arm spinner Sufiyan Muqeem picked three wickets in his 10 overs for 66 runs, while Arshad Iqbal, Mehran Mumtaz and Mohammad Wasim Jr picked two wickets each.

India A vs Pakistan A Emerging Asia Cup 2023 Final Full List of Awards

Man of the Match: Tayyab Tahir was named Man of the Match for his cracking match-winning hundred.

"It's the efforts of all the players and the coach, that at the start we decided we will get a flow and lot let it go. So even when we lost some wickets, we did not want to take the foot off the pedal. Mudasir had a good plan, that we will slow the momentum out. Their bowlers were on top, with some quick wickets. So we planned to slow it down and once set, we'd take the charge. We keep trying, and there are so many good batters and not everyone gets a century so it's a blessing," Tahir said after winning the award.

Man of the Series: Nishant Sindhu

"It felt good playing the tournament. There were many competitive teams so it feels good to perform. We tried to win today as well, but we couldn't unfortunately. Today the wicket was better to bat on so I was just trying to bowl dot balls and create pressure. The mood in the camp was normal. We were just looking to go out there and play according to the situation," said Sindhu who picked 11 wickets in the tournament.

Who said what?

India Captain Yash Dhull said, "They batted very well, we controlled it well in the middle, but they batted well. It was a big target but we played some poor shots. The decision was okay, but they batted well and the wicket was also fresh. We played some bad shots [at three wickets down] and went down from there. None of us have played international cricket so it was a good platform for us to play and a good environment."

Pakistan captain Mohammad Haris said, "Firstly, I would like to congratulate all of Pakistan. This is what happens, when you score big runs in a final, the opposition comes under pressure and then if you get back-to-back wickets it gets tough for them. We had tried different combinations in the last four-five matches, tried different players, and it worked well for us. We had shown the videos of the Indian batters to our bowlers. Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek were their main players and we thought that if we could get them out early, it would help us. I am very happy with how the boys are motivated. We have the Asia Cup also coming up and the World Cup too after that. Sri Lanka is a tough place to play spin. So it was good preparation."

Stats Corner

• Avishka Fernando (255) scored the most runs in the tournament. He was followed by India batters Yash Dhull (234) and Abhishek Sharma (221)

• Nishant Sindhu picked 11 wickets and finished as the highest wicket-taker. He was followed by Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Manav Suthar who picked 10 wickets each

• Pakistan are only the second team in the history of the tournament to defend the Emerging Asia Cup title