Mohammad Rizwan remains Pakistan’s fittest player; tops yo-yo test

Mohammad Rizwan, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has managed to emerge as the nation’s fittest cricketer. He topped the fitness test conducted during the pre-season camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore. He managed to score 19.2 points. Shan Masood, top-order batsman, and Asad Shafiq, who bats in the middle order, came close, finishing on 19.1 points each.

He hasn’t featured on a consistent basis in the national team after making his international debut way back in April 2015. Rizwan has only been able to play one Test, 32 ODIs and 13 T20Is in which he has scored 13; 705 and 135 runs respectively. Sarfaraz Ahmed has been Pakistan’s first-choice keeper for quite some time now owing to which Rizwan hasn’t got a lot of opportunities.

Form and fitness not enough for Mohammad Rizwan

As per reports in Business Recorder, Rizwan also topped the fitness test that was held for 23 players ahead of the announcement of Pakistan’s World Cup squad. That time, it was learned that he racked up 20 points. However, despite showing his tremendous level of agility, the Peshawar-born cricketer failed to make the squad for the mega event. The latest fitness tests were held on August 19 and 20.

Rizwan last played in the ODI series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where Sarfaraz was rested. During the series, the 27-year-old notched a couple of impressive centuries in Sharjah and Dubai respectively. Despite the good form, it was a surprise that he couldn’t make the squad. Nevertheless, he was at least given a central contract by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

He has been included in the Category C along with the likes of Usman Shinwari, Mohammad Amir, Masood, Abid Ali, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Fakhar Zaman. The board has reduced the number of contracted players from 33 to 19 with only Babar Azam, Yasir Shah and skipper Sarfaraz included in Category A. Rizwan will now be the part of the 17-day conditioning camp, starting August 22.

The camp ends on September 7 and is being headed by Misbah-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan cricketer. The veteran is being assisted by the support staff at the NCA. The camp has been organized bearing in mind Pakistan’s upcoming journey in domestic as well as international cricket.

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