Pakistan Cricket Board To Fine Players For Failing Fitness Test

Pakistan’s centrally contracted players, including Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and others will undergo fitness tests here on January 6 and 7, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Friday. The two-day testing will be held under the tutelage of Pakistan team’s strength and conditioning coach Yasir Malik at the National Cricket Academy.

On the other hand, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan would not be able to attend the camp because of their commitment in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League. The three players will thus give their fitness test on 20th and 21st of this month.

“All the available centrally contracted players will attend the two-day testing, which is aligned to their contracts,” PCB said in a media release.

“Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan, who will be occupied with their commitments in the Bangladesh Premier League, will undergo the tests on January 20 and 21,” it further added.

Fine for failing test:

The PCB, meanwhile, has announced that the players will be slapped with monetary fines if they fail the fitness tests. The board has stated that a player will be subjected to a 15 per cent fine of his monthly retainer in case he fails to meet the minimum fitness requirements. Not only that, the board also announced that a constant defaulter will risk the chance of a demotion in his central contract.

“Any player failing to meet the minimum fitness requirements will be fined 15 per cent of his monthly retainer, which will remain effective until such time he achieves the minimum fitness standards,” stated PCB.

“Player failing consecutive tests will risk the chances of retaining his central contract category and may face demotion,” it added.

The test will cover five major areas, namely fat analysis, strength, endurance, speed endurance and cross-fit, and will carry equal weightage. Pakistan will be seeking a new start this year after a disastrous 2019 where they performed disastrously across formats. The year ended with a promising Test series win over Sri Lanka and Pakistan will be looking to build upon it.

Centrally contracted players:

Category A – Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah
Category B – Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Abbas, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category C – Abid Ali, Hasan Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir , Mohammad Rizwan , Shan Masood, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz.