'Hum kya chane bech rahe the?' - Irfan Pathan funnily asks Mohammad Kaif over his 'fitness' comment

Yo-Yo fitness test created quite a stir when it was first introduced in the Indian cricket. Rather many didn’t like the fact that clearing the test was made mandatory to make it to the team. Moreover, Ambati Rayudu was dropped from the team ahead of the England tour for failing the yo-yo test. This is when it created a lot of ruckus with many criticising Virat Kohli and the management.

Recently, Mohammad Kaif also opined over fitness in modern-day cricket. He also felt that only him, Lakshmipathy Balaji and probably Yuvraj Singh would’ve cleared the yo-yo test if it was introduced during his playing days. Irfan Pathan was also the part of the team Kaif played and he funnily pulled the latter’s leg for his comment.

Irfan made a special appearance on Yusuf Pathan’s live session with Kaif on Monday. He shed light over the former cricketer’s statement and asked if they were selling nuts and weren’t fit. Beep test was used to determine the players’ fitness then and Irfan revealed that he used to score 15.5 on an average and was very close to Kaif’s score.

“I heard your statement that in our time, if yo-yo test was there, only Balaji, you and Yuvraj would’ve passed. fir hum kya kar rahe the, chane bech rahe the hum? (laughs)(What we were doing? Were we selling nuts?)… I used to run alongside you competitively, you used to make 16 and I did 15.5 on average,” he said.

Irfan Pathan also reveals Sourav Ganguly’s fitness score

Interestingly, Irfan Pathan also revealed that the then India skipper Sourav Ganguly used to pass the fitness test by just crossing the benchmark set. “But, I remember Dada (Sourav Ganguly) reaching just 12 (passing mark) to pass the fitness test,” he further added.

As for Mohammad Kaif, he was one of the best fielders of the era in the 2000s decade along with Yuvraj Singh. The benchmark set by the duo was taken forward by the likes of Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli. India is now regarded as one of the best fielding sides in the world thanks to the fitness of most of the players in the team.