Hafeez Reveals Fitness Neglect During Babar Azam’s Captaincy

Former Pakistan cricket director Muhammad Hafeez asserted that ex-captain Babar Azam, along with foreign coaches Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn, placed the lowest priority on team fitness leading up to the ODI World Cup in India. During Babar’s captaincy, Pakistan failed to reach the semifinals, losing five out of nine league games and finishing fifth. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently chose not to extend Hafeez’s contract following disappointing tours of Australia and New Zealand. Hafeez assumed the role of team director in late 2023 after Pakistan’s dismal performance in the World Cup.

Upon assuming the role, Pakistan suffered a whitewash in the three-Test series in Australia, and they also faced a 4-1 defeat in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. Hafeez stated, “Upon my appointment as director in 2023, during our tour to Australia, I instructed the team trainer to provide me with a report on the fitness levels of the players and develop a new fitness routine.”

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Former Pakistan Captain Babar Azam and Coach Allegedly Prioritized Players’ Desires Over Health

He told me that the former captain (Babar) and head coach (Arthur) had told him six months ago that fitness is not the priority at the moment and let the players play as they wanted,” Hafeez revealed on the ARY sports channel. Hafeez revealed that upon examining the players’ body fat percentage and endurance levels, he found them to be significantly below international cricket standards. In contemporary cricket, prioritizing fitness stands as a paramount concern for all teams.

Hafeez claimed that during tests conducted on certain players in Australia, they struggled to complete a two-kilometer run, with their body fat levels exceeding the normal limit by one-and-a-half points, according to allegations. Azhar Ali, a former Test captain and TV show expert, remembered the focus on fitness during the 2017 Champions Trophy in England, where the coaching staff sent back a player (Umar Akmal) for failing a fitness test. Arthur, the head coach at the time, led the team to victory in the Champions Trophy, defeating India in the final.

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