T20 World Cup: Misbah-Ul-Haq slams Pakistan players for poor fitness, says ‘tummies are visible, they can’t move’

Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq lashed out at the national team members over their fitness levels. Misbah stated that the Pakistan players’ tummies are visible and the reason behind this is the lack of fitness tests on the team selection. Misbah’s comments came after Pakistan suffered a humiliating six-wicket loss to England in their T20 World Cup 2022 warm-up game on Monday. Misbah, who worked as Pakistan’s head coach before leaving the job in 2021, claimed that only some players in the team take fitness seriously. “Clear cut, fitness issues are visible, Waqar left four times [as coach], I left once. Players like myself, Shoaib Malik, and Younis Khan were quite into fitness, and we used to push ourselves. Those who push others out of their limitations are not considered good trainers nor good coaches. Their tummies are visible; their lower are heavy and they can’t move. The reason behind this is there has not been a single fitness test, there is no benchmark,” Misbah was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. Misbah also took a dig at PCB for not enough attention to the fitness level of the players even in the domestic circuit. “Fitness test level during domestic season becomes a joke. We used to have arguments that we used to say that the standard used for the international level must be used for the domestic level as well. The responsible people at the domestic level always opposed us related to fitness.” Babar Azam-led Pakistan will open their T20 World Cup campaign against India on 23 October in Melbourne.