Ahead of the Test series against Bangladesh, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram raised concerns about the fitness levels of national cricket team, saying that he knew that two years ago the cricketers were not focusing on it.
Akram, who led Pakistan in ODI World Cup 1999, stated that the team did not perform up to the mark in the T20 World Cup 2024 due to their fitness issues.
"I haven't talked much about this yet, and I don't have any inside news, but I knew about it two years ago — cricketers aren't focusing enough on their fitness," Akram said.
"Now, during the [T20] World Cup, the whole world saw just how good the fitness of our cricket team truly was.”
Akram then went on to compare the current era with his playing days, saying that during that time, fitness among cricketers was not that common so they used to just follow their seniors.
"If I was playing cricket today, I'd have a lot of knowledge about fitness, as it's now common," he explained.
"During the time we played cricket, information about fitness wasn't common. We didn't know much, so we simply followed our seniors like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. Whatever they did, we did exactly the same.”
The Test matches between Pakistan and Bangladesh will be played as part of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 as both teams are eager to perform and strengthen their position on the WTC points table.
Squads
Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel, Aamir Jamal (subject to fitness), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mahmudullah, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan. Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Ebadot Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Khaled Ahmed.
Series schedule
1st Test: August 21 - 25 @ Pindi Cricket Stadium
2nd Test: August 30 - 4 September @ National Bank Stadium
- Wasim Akram
