ISLAMABAD: While expressing disappointment over the Pakistan cricket team’s loss to Afghanistan, cricket legend Wasim Akram has said that the players’ fitness level was not up to the mark, especially in their fielding performances.
Afghanistan defeated Pakistan by eight wickets in the ICC World Cup on Monday. While speaking on a show at a local sports channel, Wasim Akram said that fitness plays a pivotal role in fielding and the players need to undergo fitness tests regularly, suggesting that some players seemed to be consuming excessive amounts of mutton.
He said that reaching 280-odd and losing just two wickets is pretty big. Look at the fielding and fitness levels. We’ve been saying for the last three weeks that these players have not undergone a fitness test in the last two years.
He also highlighted the importance of having specific criteria for players’ fitness and said that during Misbah-ul-Haq’s coaching tenure, such criteria were enforced, bringing positive results.
Misbah-ul-Haq Expresses Disappointment Over Pakistan’s Loss
Meanwhile, Former captain Misbah-ul-Haq also expressed his disappointment with Babar Azam’s captaincy, attributing it to the decline in Haris Rauf’s bowling confidence, especially during the powerplay.
He said that Rauf struggles to find his rhythm in the early overs, leaking eighteen to twenty runs and losing confidence.
Misbah said that it would have been good for Haris’s confidence if the skipper had given the ball after the powerplay when there were four fielders in the deep. Thus, he can bowl his bouncers.
