‘Shocking To Me’ – Hafeez Claims Babar And Management Told Pakistan Trainer Fitness Was Not Priority For Players

Shortly after being sacked as the men’s team director, Mohammad Hafeez criticised the Pakistan team management on a television show.

PCB has appointed Mohammad Hafeez as the Director of Men’s Teamon November 15, 2023, during changes in the ‘Pakistan Coaching Staff Portfolio’.

During Hafeez’s tenure, Pakistan lost 3-0 in Tests in Australia under Shan Masood and 4-1 in T20Is in New Zealand under Shaheen Shah Afridi. Masood and Shaheen replaced Babar Azam as captains as the PCB revamped the process.

On February 15, 2024, just three months after his appointment, the PCB removed Hafeez from his post and wished him “good luck in his future endeavours.” On February 16,Hafeez tweeted that Pakistan Cricket “exposes all cricket facts and other amateur facts that are not part of the sport of cricket and lead to poor performance.” .

Less than a week after his dismissal, Hafeez harshly criticized the Pakistan team management on television.< /strong>I did. ShowPavilion. “When I arrived in Australia, I encouraged all my players to focus on their fitness,” he said.

“I asked the coach about the current fitness standards of his players. He made a shocking statement. “Six months ago, the team director, head coach and captain told me that fitness is a priority at the moment. He said there was no need to check the fitness of the players, let them play the cricket they wanted.

“When we observed them after six months, we measured their fat levels, which plays an important role in international cricket.”Subcutaneous fat measurements were carried out on the cricket players tested. We found that everyone had a fat level of 1.5-. Up to 1.75 times the expansion standard. Too expensive. ”

Body fat percentage, as Hafeez explained, is “all the fat in your body, the food you eat.” Skin folds are used for measurements.

“Later, during the 2km endurance test run, some athletes were unable to complete the race,” Hafeez continued. “I was shocked when I learned six months ago why decisions were made that ignored all of these [fitness] standards.

“The captain (Babar) was involved,” confirmed Wasim Akram, who was also on the show. “Director of Cricket [Mickey Arthur], coach [Grant] Bradburn too.”

“How can you ignore fitness at international level?” asked Hafeez. “If you do this, the result will be like this.”

“When we won the Champions Trophy (2017), one player was sent back because he had failed the fitness test,” added former Pakistan captain Azhar Ali, adding that a player was sent back because he had failed the fitness test. He mentioned Umar Akmal, who had returned from England. Fitness Test He took the fitness test twice.

“Fitness was very important back then, and the culture after that was like this… When we won the road test, everyone said we all looked so good. It was really personal. It was the best fitness ever.”

Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *