People are missing the bigger point. Fitness is a measure of professionalism for an athlete. An athlete that is not fit lacks professionalism in his craft. He is like a doctor that's too lazy to study, a chef who lacks knife skills, a pharmacist who doesn't know medication dosages, a journalist who doesn't get all the facts before publishing a story, etc. It doesn't say anything about one's skill or talent (see Inzamam-ul-Haq), but says a lot about ones dedication to their craft.
Had it been football, I might have agreed with you. But cricket is not much fitness demanding. and Professionalism is about improving your overall game, while we're only focused over fitness.
Nope it isn't, and in fact is very important for a player to give his best in any situation.
HOW?
Nope. It has been underrated in Pak for long time. Modern day cricket needs top fitness. Management doing right thing
Correction! It hasn't been rated in Pakistan previously, now its over-rated. It doesn't, it still needs application of skills.
OP shouldn't be allowed to cry when pak players drop catches.
OP is like that parent who encourages kids to watch TV instead of studying yet when he fails in exams, beats him up.
There's something called fielding/catching practice. I cant understand the mantra of run like horses and assuming that it would solve every single problem that our team faces.
Umer Akmal is our most agile fielder and catcher. Dont know what kind of rubbish fielding tests pcb is taking which Sharjeel used to pass but UA is failing? absolutely rubbish!!
Yes, he's among the better ones. Even if he has gained weight, he's not as worse as Sarfraz or Sharjeel. but again, wrong parameters to judge a cricketer.
Inzy himself reached hit his batting peak in 2004 when he lost lots of weight.
Good fitness is mandatory in modern cricket.
BTW, has everyone forgotten the outcome of the 2003 World Cup and that was the most star studded Pakistani team in a World Cup.
You haven't seen his pre or post innings? Right? he was a fat bun when he scored against BD, India etc.
2003's worldcup had out-of-form over-aged players, much like Misbah in AUS. They were 'fit' than many of current Pakistani players, atleast much more than Sehwag.
Inzi got slim in 2003 WC but had a nightmare wc. In 2005/2006 he was not fully fit but scored lot of test hundreds. UA never sounded unfit while playing, he looks very agile in fielding and never drop catches. Dont know how come he failed the tests that Safraz and Sharjeel passed
That's because fitness is a wrong parameter. It should not hold more than 20% of player's weight-age.
I'm not saying I would swap rizwan for inzi level batsmen. I'm saying fitness is important. Bad inzi taken fitness more seriously he would have been better then he was.
A bit important, not much? Again, those are assumptions, he would have hurt himself in the process. Tell me a single example where better fitness has improved any Pakistani player?
Normally UA is a very fit and agile and dependable fielder but on the tour to Australia he was clearly struggling in the outfield and it was clear that his love handles were a problem. He hasn't even bothered to lose weight since then and he justifies the excess weight by saying it gives him more power with his big shots which is rubbish.
True, he ain't serious. That's why he is not concerned about anything, why pointing fitness alone?
Also what people don't realize is how much fielding has improved since Inzamam's days. Fielders are like lightning today. So if fielders are faster, batsmen need to be faster between the wickets too. Every aspect of cricket has become faster and fitter.
True, but one need to realize that the game is still decided with remaining two aspects where fitness is not that important factor.
Dude boxers and fighters get illness because of direct hits to the head and use of steroids. Don Revie, a 61 year old getting ill is a surprise to you?
Exercising excessively can hurt same parts of body. and It doesn't, but sportsmen getting faulty nervous system does surprise me. Even I myself has lost focus after training hard for months.
Lmao fitness isn't overrated at all.In fact,it's quite underrated especially in Pakistan.
It was, at that time when players were not even willing to slide. Its over-rated these days.
I don't know why the OP is making such a big distinction between cricketing skills and fitness when fitness augments your cricketing skills. Its not either/or.
A fitter player will have greater levels of stamina and endurance, ensuring they can stay at the crease for longer instead of huffing and puffing after a 20 or 30, run hard between the wickets for 1s and 2s, hit boundaries on a regular basis instead of getting winded after one or two or bowl longer spells.
A fitter player will also have a longer career - look at Younis and Misbah who even past the age of 40 left their younger teammates in the dust in fitness tests. If Yousuf was fitter he could've gone on for another 1-2 years but was constantly injured near the end of his career.
Does it matter if Rizwan stays playable at 40? or it was about the skills/game of Younis and Misbah while fitness contributing a small factor.
Lol this is like claiming that you can write a post graduate literary research paper with the vocabulary of a 5th grader
It....will.......never......happen......
You're free to provide any evidence backing negative-claims for cricket.
I can surely write a paper without knowing tech terms, but I can never write it without knowing how to write.
Letting unfit cricketers play promotes and encourages more players to be less concerned about fitness and therefore, it'll lead to a team of a bunch of fatties.
There's something called maintaining balance instead of over-rating fitness as every cure to the problem that Pak Cricket is facing.
This is the dumbest thread of all time, no surprise its an umar akmal fan.
I am not anymore, although he could have been effective in otherwise a tuk tuk squad.
In cricket, certainly fitness is the secondary aspect, not the primary thing like in football. Fitness is important but that doesn't define and differentiate between cricketers. In football, the biggest difference often between amateurs, professionals is fitness.
True, thats what I meant. Cricket is not that fitness demanding. It requires more focus, longer span of patience and concentration, technique and plan along with dynamic ability to re-work over that plan. While we're only crazy about fitness because our incompetent coaches can't improve a single player hence fitness can be a decent escape-excuse for them.
being the latest victim, this comes into my mind.
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