Wasim Akram mocks Babar Azam's Pakistan over poor fitness: "During World Cup, whole world saw..."

Former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram has expressed concerns about the national team's fitness levels ahead of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home. Wasim Akram stated that the Pakistan cricket team’s poor performances in recent major tournaments are due to inadequate fitness.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently tried to enhance the team's fitness through rigorous drills with the army. However, improvement in fitness has not been seen on the side. There has been significant criticism from fans and pundits regarding the fitness of players such as wicketkeeper Azam Khan.

Don't Have Any Inside News - Wasim Akram

In a recent web show appearance, Wasim Akram opened up about ongoing fitness issues within the Pakistan cricket team. Akram highlighted that the problem has been evident for several years. He added that players have not been focusing enough on their fitness.

"I haven't talked much about this yet, and I don't have any inside news, but I knew about it two years ago - cricketers aren't focusing enough on their fitness," Akram said.

The former pacer said that the Pakistan cricket team's fitness has been inferior compared to other international teams. Akram mentioned that the poor state of the team’s fitness was evident to everyone during the T20 World Cup 2024.

"Now, during the World Cup, the whole world saw just how good the fitness of our cricket team truly was," Akram added.

Pakistan had a disappointing outing during the 2024 T20 World Cup. The Babar Azam-led team was eliminated before the Super Eights after losses to the United States and India. They also failed to reach the semi-finals in the 2023 ODI World Cup and suffered a 0-3 whitewash in Tests against Australia.

We Didn't Know Much - Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram compared his playing days with the current era regarding fitness awareness. He mentioned that if he were playing today, he would benefit from the extensive fitness knowledge now available. Akram added that fitness information was not common during his playing time.

"If I was playing cricket today, I'd have a lot of knowledge about fitness, as it's now common," Akram further stated.

"During the time we played cricket, information about fitness wasn't common. We didn't know much, so we simply followed our seniors like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. Whatever they did, we did exactly the same," he concluded.

Pakistan and Bangladesh will face off in the two-match Test series. The upcoming series is part of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2023-2025 cycle. It is worth mentioning that the Pakistan team did not advance to the final match in the first two editions of the World Test Championship.

The Test series between Pakistan and Bangladesh will start with the first match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on August 21, followed by the second Test at the National Stadium in Karachi on August 30. Both teams are focused on earning valuable points in the ICC World Test Championship standings.

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