Salman Butt snubs Babar Azam as he names 3 fittest Pakistan cricketers

Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt talked about the fitness of the current players ahead of the Test series against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team. He said that things are not getting developed in the way they should which makes the entire team unfit.

Pakistan National Cricket are all set to host the Bangladesh National Cricket Team for the two-match Test series, which be part of the ICC World Test Championship as well. The first game will be played in Rawalpindi from 21st August while the second game is scheduled to take place from 30th August in Karachi.

Ever since the T20 World Cup 2024 has concluded, Pakistan National Cricket Team have been criticized a lot for their fitness. The team has come under the radar and some of the key players have been dropped from the team for the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh National Cricket Team, set to begin next week.

Pakistan Cricket Board since the T20 World Cup loss has made things strict. They have prioritized fitness and have asked players to focus on their fitness. The team has been putting hard yards to prepare for the series and some of the fresh faces have been included in the team.

Salman Butt was asked about the fitness of the Pakistan players, replying to this, the former player of the team said that not everyone in the team is unfit. He lauded Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan, and Fakhar Zaman for their fitness as well, saying that they are among the top 10 players in the world in terms of fitness.

Salman Butt further stressed that the team needs to manage fast bowlers. He lashed out at the pacers, saying that they need to play longer formats. He also pointed out that things are not falling in the right place, which makes the entire team unfit. Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained:

"Improvements will be seen in fitness soon. You cannot say all the players are not fit. If you look at some of the players they are among the top 10 players in terms of fitness in World cricket. You can look at Shan Masood, Fakhar Zaman, and Mohammad Rizwan, you look at their fitness, they have achieved good scores in the Yo-Yo Tests. They are good in the gym, they run well on the field.

"You need to manage fast bowlers, the problem is they don't play longer format, they don't feature in FC cricket, we don't play much Test cricket. Things are not getting developed in the way they should be. When this happens, the entire team is blamed unfit, people won't look at fit guys even though all the players are hardworking."

"Those who made errors are still there" - Salman Butt's massive claim

Salman Butt further talked about how fitness has been made a big issue in Pakistan. He stressed how players who were unfit during the T20 World Cup 2024 are still there and the strictness has been imposed on the players at the junior level. He elaborated:

"Babar Azam scored truckloads of runs in the last 2 years, he proved his fitness, he ran on the field, and scored runs while batting first as well as second innings. Things should go up but they are getting broken in the middle, which is wrong. So, this is the responsibility of the players to maintain their fitness.

"The entire Pakistan is talking about the fitness of the team and it brought a storm in Pakistan, players at the junior level were asked to run. This came after people said players weren't fit in the T20 World Cup 2024. No one questioned the physios or trainers, but instead, they started making players at the district level push hard for fitness. Those who made errors are still there," Salman Butt concluded.