PCB Takes Major Steps To Boost The Fitness Level, Players Will Be Fined Too
Jan 3, 2020 at 8:37 PM
You would easily remember how brutally the Pakistan team was trolled for fitness during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. So to raise the fitness bar of the Pakistan team, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has started the fitness test which will be implemented from January 6.
On Friday (3rd January), PCB announced in the media release that Pakistan team’s strength and conditioning coach Yasir Malik would test Pakistan players’ fitness in the National Cricket Academy. Pakistan’s centrally contracted players, including Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and others will go under this two-day test on January 6 and 7. Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, and Shadab Khan would miss this test as they will be busy playing the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). So, these three players will give the test on the 20th and 21st of January.
“All the available centrally contracted players will attend the two-day testing, which is aligned to their contracts,” PCB said in a media release.
“Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan, who will be occupied with their commitments in the Bangladesh Premier League, will undergo the tests on January 20 and 21,” it further added.
Players will be fined: PCB clarified
A special addition in this test is the players will be fined if they can’t pass the fitness test. Also, they may lose their contracts from the PCB if they regularly fail in the test.
“Any player failing to meet the minimum fitness requirements will be fined 15 percent of his monthly retainer, which will remain effective until such time he achieves the minimum fitness standards,” stated PCB
“Player failing consecutive tests will risk the chances of retaining his central contract category and may face demotion,” it added.
Earlier there were reports that Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq had removed biryani from the diet of the players. The ex-captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was also criticised for the fitness. It will be interesting to see how this fitness test will affect Pakistan’s performance.