Misbah ul Haq criticized the Pakistani team’s fitness standards. Photo: AP
“Clean cut, fitness issues are visible, Waqar is gone four times [as coach], I left once. Players like me, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan were very fit, and we used to push each other. Those who push others beyond their limits are not considered good coaches or good coaches. Their bellies are visible; their lower parts are heavy and they cannot move. The reason behind this is that there was not a single fitness test, there is no benchmark,” Misbah said as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“The level of fitness testing during the domestic season becomes a joke. We used to have arguments that told us that the standard used for the international level must also be used for the domestic level. Those responsible at the level national have always opposed us to fitness.”
Many teams around the world now pay the same attention to fitness and players must achieve desired fitness levels. West Indies have long kept Shimron Hetmyer out of the national team due to his fitness issues, while India have also dropped several players for the same reason.
As for the Pakistan squad, it is unclear whether the players have to pass the fitness tests or not. The Men in Green clearly struggled on the pitch in the warm-up game against England and also missed several chances. They failed to defend a goal of 161 in the warm-up game.
