Under lockdown, Pakistan players to undergo fitness tests

KARACHI: Pakistan’s players seem highly unlikely to feature in any domestic or international assignment in the foreseeable future but that doesn’t mean that the country’s cricketers are allowed to just relax at home.

In a bid to keep them in peak physical condition, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided that it will make over 200 players to undergo strenuous fitness tests later this month.

The entire country is more or less under lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the cricketers, who are under contract with the Board, have been given a clear message that the PCB wants them to stay in shape.

The Board will carry out fitness tests of the players, including the elite international cricketers, on April 20 and 21 via video link. All cricket activities in the country have been suspended since March 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Contracted players were due to undergo fitness tests on March 23 and 24, but they were also called off. That assessment will now take place in modified form, with the tests designed keeping in mind the restrictions on players’ movements with all grounds and PCB facilities shut.

Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s coach and chief selector, and the trainer Yasir Malik sent out a message earlier this week reminding players of their fitness obligations. “To maintain your fitness level you need to be disciplined and keep working hard,” the message reads, in Urdu. “With all the limitations and lack of resources at the moment, we have chalked out this new fitness battery with everyone given an equal opportunity. We have to make sure that we are giving our hundred percent. You have been informed well before time to make sure you are mentally and physically ready for it. All the tests will be carried out on video link by your team’s trainers.”

Pakistan has six provincial teams, each of which has 32 contracted players - 16 each in the first and second XIs. The contracts, signed in August 2019, mandate that players maintain their fitness levels and undergo periodic assessments. During the tests on April 20 and 21, each provincial team’s trainer will assess their respective players, while the national-team trainer will assess the 19 centrally contracted Pakistan players. Each player will have to complete a number of fitness tasks - including timed sets of push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, burpees and Bulgarian squats - as well as have their weight measured.

The message also confirmed that, if the situation allows for it, the next round of fitness assessments, scheduled to be held in the first week of June, will return to its conventional module, which includes gym, skinfold tests, running, and other outdoor assessments.

Pakistan players have often been the subject of criticism over their lack of fitness, but during his time as head coach, Waqar Younis instilled a sense among his players that they need to raise their levels. His successor Mickey Arthur took that idea forward, and Misbah, since taking over the reins in September 2019, has sought to impose strict standards not just among the national-team players but also in domestic cricket, with each provincial side required to monitor its players’ fitness levels on a quarterly basis. –with inputs from agencies