Top Pakistan players fail Grant Luden's fitness tests

The fitness trainer of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Grant Luden has been conducting a high standard test for the Pakistani players and some of the top players in the side failed in the fitness tests.

Key players of the squad like their T20 international skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, the finisher Umar Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar and Sohaib Maqsood along with other members of the team failed to meet the benchmark and attain the required points in different fitness tests set by Grant Luden.

He said, “The fitness trainer of the Pakistan team, Grant Luden, and his team have devised a points system for the fitness tests with 17 set as the benchmark for players to confirm their fitness is of required level. Unfortunately, some players could not reach the benchmark.”

The four-day long series of fitness tests began on 8 May at the National Cricket Academy. There were some complaints from the players that some of them are unhappy with the double standard tests and also complained that Pakistani ODI captain Azhar Ali, left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz went through soft tests while other players were going through hard tests.

The PCB official had said that all of those allegations are baseless and said that the players attending the tests were in different groups and the claims don’t have much merit. The PCB has also employed a sports psychologist and nutritionist Asad Rizvi to conduct counseling during the 3-month fitness campaign which is also to keep good morale for the players in the campaign.

The PCB official explained the purpose of conducting these fitness tests. He said that the contracted players are given goals to achieve in a time period of 3 months and those who fail in it will be fined and the ones who stand out in these tests will be financially rewarded.

Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and experienced batsman Younis Khan are the two fittest players in the team, who are also the senior most members of the squad. Younis Khan has topped the tests with 18 points.

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