In the last few years, a lot is happened in Pakistan cricket. From dealing with poor performance to another big issue in the team, they are suffering at the big stage. Players failed to perform even on their home soil. In the recently ended Test series, Bangladesh whitewashed him by a 2-0 margin. Players’ fitness has become a big issue. The PCB will enforce strict fitness tests before issuing central contracts for the next year, affecting all players.
Pakistan’s Constant Struggle:
Over the past few years, Pakistan cricket has suffered on the global stage. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, the Babar Azam-led Pakistan team exited from the group stage. They even struggled in the 2023 Asia Cup. even they made an exit from the group stage of the T20 World Cup stage. Just not in the ICC events, they suffered in the other formats too.
Before the T20 World Cup, they lost the T20 series by a 5-0 margin against New Zealand. But their biggest heartbreak came out recently. Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan in the two-match Test series. In between all those struggles, players fitness grabbed the attention. After consecutive failures, they received immense criticism. Their fitness became one of the biggest reasons for their failure.
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PCB’s Big Step:
To prevent this, the Pakistan Cricket Board is set to take a bold step. The plan is to enforce strict fitness tests before granting central contracts for the upcoming year. This new approach will apply to players currently under contract, as well as other international and domestic cricketers.
The fitness assessments will take place from September 6 to 8 in Lahore. The process will be overseen by the white-ball head coach, Gary Kirsten, along with the team’s physiotherapist and trainer. The tests aim to ensure that all players meet the required fitness standards before their contracts are renewed or awarded.
Source’s Words:
While this discussion was going on, a close-up gave a major update about the initiative. The source said, “The fitness tests will basically decide which players make the contracts this year while performances would also be given priority. Both the foreign coaches (Kirsten and Jason Gillespie) have made it clear to the selectors and PCB that their first criteria for selecting players will be their fitness status.”
Then he added, “Gillispie was not happy with the fitness of some players in the recent Test matches against Bangladesh and felt they were not able to sustain their intensity and endurance during all sessions of the Tests.”
Lastly, he added, “The fitness tests will comprise everything to determine how fit a player is, gym training, stamina and endurance runs, yo-yo and other tests would also be held.”
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