From Hanif Mohammad to Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan has produced many great cricketers who earned fame and respect on and off the field.

Inzamam-ul-Haq is one of them. He started his international career on November 22, 1991, against West Indies in Lahore and played his last match in ICC World Cup 2007 against Zimbabwe on March 21, 2007. During his 17-year-long career, Inzamam scored 11,379 runs in 378 one-day internationals, and 8,830 in 120 Tests. He served as Pakistan’s batting consultant for a brief period in 2012.

After the World T20 disaster, the PCB management started overhauling cricket structure and appointment of Inzamam as chief selector is the first step in this regard. The former captain agreed to take up the challenge but demanded full authority to work with a free mind. He urged the people to be patient with the team, saying he doesn’t have a magic wand to change things in days.

His first international assignment will be Pakistan’s team tour to England in July this year. For this important tour, the PCB will set up a fitness/conditioning camp in coordination with the Pakistan Army in Abbottabad to make the players physically fit.

Pakistani cricketers will be trained by military personnel at the camp. The object of the camp is to improve players’ fitness level, which is the lowest in the international circuit. The camp will provide the opportunity to improve physical fitness of all players, to enhance the technical aspect of each player’s game and to prepare them for international events.

In June 2007, a two-week physical training camp of Pakistan cricket team was held at the Army School of Physical Training in Abbottabad where players availed themselves of the state-of-the-art facilities. Pak Army’s physical training experts had assured the team management that players would gain a lot from the training camp and most players achieved the required level of fitness. But they didn’t maintain the fitness level after the camp and went back to their old-fashioned training style.

A temporary camp may be helpful for the players to improve their fitness, but it’s not a permanent solution as only a limited number of players can be invited to the camp for a limited time to train under army instructors.

The management should have a plan for the whole year and for all the domestic players as injuries to leading cricketers are a common phenomenon.

Veterans Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq are fitter than their juniors.  The youngsters want to gain fame overnight but are not ready for hard work and don’t concentrate on their fitness during off season.

In its contract offered to cricketers in 2014, PCB made it mandatory for players to clear a fitness test held after every four months. But leading cricketers didn’t care about it.

From September 6 to 8, 2014, an assessment of 29 players’ fitness was carried out and according to its results the PCB had to fine 12 players. The players fined were Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Raza Hasan, Abdul Rehman, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Talha, Ehsan Adil, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Irfan, Sohaib Maqsood, Khurram Manzoor and Haris Sohail.

Misbah, Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood, Umar Amin and Bilawal Bhatti were rewarded for their fitness.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan in May 2015 accepted that the Pakistan team had the "worst fitness levels" in the world, and that only Misbah and Younis met the minimum standard. None of our first-class teams measures up to the standard of fitness which makes it difficult to select a national team.

During the series against England last year in Dubai, T20 captain Shahid also showed his concern over players’ fitness and said: "We have to improve our fitness and fielding before the World Twenty20." Pakistan’s then bowling Coach Mushtaq Ahmed also blamed poor fielding and lack of fitness for his team’s Twenty20 series loss against England.

Throughout the year, Test series, ODI tournaments, county cricket, Twenty20 and now different leagues are played and there is not much gap. But huge financial benefits encourage players to participate in every game.

Players are our national assets and the board is paying them salary and other benefits. The board spends huge money for their treatment when they are injured. But when the team needs a 100 percent fit player he is found injured and not available for the national side.

The medical panel of the PCB must take notice of the players’ recurring injuries. The panel should set a high standard for the players and when a player is injured after a short time again the medical panel and the board must take notice and find out the reasons.