–Yasir flops, Shaan and Rizwan on top
LAHORE: Pakistan’s leg spin prodigy and bowling whiz kid Yasir Shah has failed to meet the mark for fitness standards required to be a part of the national squad.
On the Yo-Yo fitness test conducted by the PCB at the National Cricket Academy, the leg spinner could only manage to get a score of 17.1 on the Yo-Yo scale, when the minimum requirement was 17.4.
Yasir is the only player to have failed the test; however, many barely made it through and are clearly teetering on the edges. A worrying score was that of Captain Sarfaraz Ahmad, who was only a decimal point ahead of the cut off mark with his score of 17.4. All-rounder Imad Wasim too only managed to get a 17.4. Meanwhile Mohammad Hafeez managed a tally of 18 while Ahmed Shehzad got an 18.5.
There were some positives, however, with fast bowler Sohail Khan improving his fitness to the extent of scoring an above average score of 19. Yet another positive were the five players getting scores of over 20, namely Asad Shafiq, Ehsan Adil, Shaan Masood and another with scores of 21.1, 22.2, 22.1, and 20.7, respectively.
The Yo-Yo endurance test is a physical fitness test often used by international athletes to measure their level of endurance. The test, in the cricketing world, is a standard must-have in countries including India and Australia which have gone far in cricket simply by focusing on levels of fitness. Yuvraj Singh was famously barred from playing cricket for his failure to score well on the test. Top cricketers in the world including those in the Australian squad, Virat Kohli and others easily hit 21 on the test.
The testing and cut off mark are part of Australian coach Mickey Arthur’s regimen for his men, and ever since his taking over of the Pakistan Cricket team there has been a lot of focus on this aspect. For this and the ensuing results, the coach deserves all the credit he can get.
It is also heartening to see Shaan Masood and Muhammad Rizwan pass with such flying colours and achieve the same levels as the greatest cricketers of the modern age.
Sports journalist Zainab Abbas, in a series of tweets, talked about the Yo-Yo results, saying it was wonderful to see the efforts of Shaan Masood and Muhammad Rizwan pay off, the two players she has on more than one occasion observed as the most dedicated and hardworking at training.
With fast bowler Sohail Khan getting a 19 and Yasir Shah flopping, this may also just have long lasting effects and convert Pakistan back to their pre-Misbah days of fast bowling spearheads. And while the Misbah model has proven vastly successful, the focus on fitness and planning accordingly may just be what the Pakistan team needs for a new era of cricket under a new captain.
Most importantly, strict implementation of such factors will do nothing but bring more professionalism into Pakistan cricket – a desperate need for the often ragtag group they are. So despite the rocky start and ugly bumps like Umar Akmal (also thrown out on fitness basis), Mickey Arthur is finally coming through with all the promise he arrived with.