[VIDEO] Fitness had a different meaning in the 1990s!

[MenInG]

Here is the Pakistan ODI players training during 1996 World Cup at Aitchison College Lahore

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.111%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/bflnm4" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>

 

[Colorblind Genius]

None looks like Azam Khan or Sharjeel Khan, so this might have worked for them to warm up and start practice playing cricket.

 

[finalfantasy7]

that looks like thr cooling down to do warm ups on the day of the game,basically the same as you see a football player before a the match, or any sportsman

 

[Belawal2014]

Looks like the drills we were made to do at the start of gym class in High School.

 

[Rana]

Here is the Pakistan ODI players training during 1996 World Cup at Aitchison College Lahore

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.111%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/bflnm4" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>

I don’t care what people think, Saleem Malik’s long hair and moustache just oozes love and charisma! The gold standard of masculinity of his time!!

 

[secular_liberal]

Arguably, Pakistan's best ever ODI squad...

 

[Markhor]

More strenous that I thought it'd be That 1996 team was probably the most complete ODI team we've had. The 1999 team was ageing and with a fragile batting lineup.

96 team were mostly in their primes, in home conditions and defending champions no less. What a wasted opportunity.

 

[Bouncer]

Arguably, Pakistan's best ever ODI squad...

Agreed, with the exception of one man who bullied his way into the WC squad and then into playing 11.

I still remember that media mafia driven campaign that started in spring of 1994, exerted so much for pressure on the cricket board throughout 94 and 95, and eventually got that man undeservingly into the world Cup squad, I would have given up anything to have someone more capable in that middle order.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

I don’t care what people think, Saleem Malik’s long hair and moustache just oozes love and charisma! The gold standard of masculinity of his time!!

Yep, then he got caught fixing and now his face is one people wish to punch.

 

[Rana]

Yep, then he got caught fixing and now his face is one people wish to punch.

Dashing criminal

 

[globalcitizen]

Looks more like showing off to cameras. But this is all you could have expected from Asian teams in 90s. Teams like Australia NZ South Africa were always good in terms of fitness

 

[Suleiman]

More strenous that I thought it'd be That 1996 team was probably the most complete ODI team we've had. The 1999 team was ageing and with a fragile batting lineup.

96 team were mostly in their primes, in home conditions and defending champions no less. What a wasted opportunity.

Other priorities... like making money on the side.

 

[Zeshan547]

Arguably, Pakistan's best ever ODI squad...

This gave me goosebumps, what star power they had, only if they had as much dedication as well to go with their amazing natural talent, now we only have pretenders and even Babar would be shy cat in this group.

 

[moghul]

Take yourself 20 years further back, Pakistan team left home in Dec 1976 for Australia and after drawing three test series there , they went to West Indies and played another 5 tests and returned home in the last week of April. Some went straight to England to play county cricket.

So the team was away from home for more than 4 months and battled against the 2 top teams in the world in their own backyard. Imran Khan played all 8 tests in a row, without breaking down . Was not that the height of mental and physical fitness. Can today's team match that team's fitness level, physical and more than that, the mental toughness.

That must be the toughest away tour taken by any Pakistan cricket team.

 

[Savak]

Cricket today requires a lot more fitness. You can't compare the eras, its totally different

 

[Rafa]

Cricketers today are much more fitter than the Cricketers in those days.

 

[MenInG]

Take yourself 20 years further back, Pakistan team left home in Dec 1976 for Australia and after drawing three test series there , they went to West Indies and played another 5 tests and returned home in the last week of April. Some went straight to England to play county cricket.

So the team was away from home for more than 4 months and battled against the 2 top teams in the world in their own backyard. Imran Khan played all 8 tests in a row, without breaking down . Was not that the height of mental and physical fitness. Can today's team match that team's fitness level, physical and more than that, the mental toughness.

That must be the toughest away tour taken by any Pakistan cricket team.

Very true and a good reminder.

 

[Bhaijaan]

What a team Pakistan had in the 1990s. Despite the animosity, we in India would never miss a match because of all the talent at display and the style of play.

Young Pakistani fans on the forum feel Indians troll them but it's true the current generation of last 15 years or so is absolutely nothing compared to the powerhouse generation of the 1990s.

Now even the top Pakistani players don't have swagger and look nervous. Back then, even their bench players would look you right in the eye and bring that fire.

With a little bit of professionalism, that generation could have achieved so much more.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Current Indian fans wouldn't know we used to into a tri series with West Indies and Zimbabwe and would still be unsure if we would make it to the final. Lol

 

[guna]

Nice easy warmups. Simple days for all teams.

 

[guna]

What a team Pakistan had in the 1990s. Despite the animosity, we in India would never miss a match because of all the talent at display and the style of play.

Young Pakistani fans on the forum feel Indians troll them but it's true the current generation of last 15 years or so is absolutely nothing compared to the powerhouse generation of the 1990s.

Now even the top Pakistani players don't have swagger and look nervous. Back then, even their bench players would look you right in the eye and bring that fire.

With a little bit of professionalism, that generation could have achieved so much more.

That Pak team was one of the greatest teams ever from Asia. They all had a lot of natural ability. Pretty much everyone was a match winner on their day.

Fitness was the issue as most of them look very soft compared to the current standards. But almost all other cricketers from other nations were soft too.

 

[Bhaijaan]

That Pak team was one of the greatest teams ever from Asia. They all had a lot of natural ability. Pretty much everyone was a match winner on their day.

Fitness was the issue as most of them look very soft compared to the current standards. But almost all other cricketers from other nations were soft too.

So true. Guys like Razzaq, Mahmood would come out of nowhere and smash you. Their reserves played like superstars.

Also 1990s style of batting didn't punish Pakistan. Rather it complemented them.

 

[Robert]

Take yourself 20 years further back, Pakistan team left home in Dec 1976 for Australia and after drawing three test series there , they went to West Indies and played another 5 tests and returned home in the last week of April. Some went straight to England to play county cricket.

So the team was away from home for more than 4 months and battled against the 2 top teams in the world in their own backyard. Imran Khan played all 8 tests in a row, without breaking down . Was not that the height of mental and physical fitness. Can today's team match that team's fitness level, physical and more than that, the mental toughness.

That must be the toughest away tour taken by any Pakistan cricket team.

Those eight tests would be more spaced out than today’s full schedule, and there would be a rest day after day three of each so Imran could put his feet up.

Bear in mind that Imran was not expected, after bowling a fast over, to go tearing forty yards and dive headlong to turn four into three as today’s fast bowlers are.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

This Pakistan team was a nightmarish team for Asian teams like India and Sri Lanka.. Even if you get Inzi/Anwar/Afridi/Ijaz out.. you had Moin or Rashid Latif coming in and hitting scoops and laps and dinks here and there to keep scoreboard ticking and still winning games.
Then add Wasim and Waqar and Afridi with Saqlain and Mushtaq.. What a talented and skilful bowling attack. This is what Talent is.. Pure skill and execution.. With loads of brains as well.

Sadly, this Pakistan team had lot of off field issues and egos and infighting.. I remember the constant chopping of captains hat between Wasim/Waqar/Rashid/Moin. They did not achieve the same level of greatness they should have. I would say this was the most complete and talented team in 1990s. Australia won a lot due to their discipline and hard work and system. Still Pakistan could blow them away with just sheer skill.
Needed some stable PCB admins to reel the players egos in during those times and make them play as a team. They should have won a lot more.

 

[Bhaijaan]

This Pakistan team was a nightmarish team for Asian teams like India and Sri Lanka.. Even if you get Inzi/Anwar/Afridi/Ijaz out.. you had Moin or Rashid Latif coming in and hitting scoops and laps and dinks here and there to keep scoreboard ticking and still winning games.
Then add Wasim and Waqar and Afridi with Saqlain and Mushtaq.. What a talented and skilful bowling attack. This is what Talent is.. Pure skill and execution.. With loads of brains as well.

Sadly, this Pakistan team had lot of off field issues and egos and infighting.. I remember the constant chopping of captains hat between Wasim/Waqar/Rashid/Moin. They did not achieve the same level of greatness they should have. I would say this was the most complete and talented team in 1990s. Australia won a lot due to their discipline and hard work and system. Still Pakistan could blow them away with just sheer skill.
Needed some stable PCB admins to reel the players egos in during those times and make them play as a team. They should have won a lot more.

Sri Lanka in their prime went toe to toe with Pakistan in late 1990s, actually beat them comprehensively in big matches. From late 1996 till 2001, Sri Lanka were the best ODI team from Asia.

 

[MenInG]

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[Savak]

Imran Khan was pretty tough on fitness as captain. Wasim Akram has mentioned many times that players were scared of being caught eating crap by him

 

[NishanKonar]

Those eight tests would be more spaced out than today’s full schedule, and there would be a rest day after day three of each so Imran could put his feet up.

Bear in mind that Imran was not expected, after bowling a fast over, to go tearing forty yards and dive headlong to turn four into three as today’s fast bowlers are.

Exactly. In the 80s & 90s u played 1-2 FC/ tour games after every test. Plus rest days within a test. No back to back tests. Nowadays u are expected play 4 tests in just 5 weeks ! Plus the game was played at a leisurely pace. Nobody bothered about chasing the ball to the fence or make diving stops or run hard between wickets

Its the same n all sports. Watch a tennis game from the 80s - its nowhere as fast paced or frenetic as in 2021. Same with football. In the 80s the likes of Maradona wud play Sunday league games after a hearty lunch. Today they are only allowed pasta before games

 

[silentkiller187]

Looks like they're putting in more work than the current lot judging by the quarantine training videos we were treated to.

 

[burger_uno]

this is actually a good topic.

up to mid-90s, top sides were fairly close when it came to fitness standards and more often than not, it was the side with more talent that could dominate through the course of a series. however things began to change from the second part of the decade when s.a. and australia pulled ahead from the pack. the fitness and athleticism displayed by next generation of players from those countries was much superior than that displayed by counterparts from other countries. as a result, both s.a. and australia became dominant sides especially in odis. in odis, both teams built pressure by saving singles and rotating strike much better than the talented pakistani side and consequently, got the upper hand.

there were a few pivotal series/matches in the 90s by which we can see change in trend. in 1994, there was highly entertaining triangular series between s.a, pak and austrailia in pak. s.a. side lost all six of its matches while austrailia defeated pakistan in 2/3 games. in that one pak victory, inzi and s.a. took aussies to the cleaners like very few pakistanis have ever done. pakistan side also avenged home defeat by beating aussies in australia in 1997 triangular series.

both s.a. and australia had a rethink of their approach after their respective performances. s.a. next came to pakistan for 96 w.c. and defeated pak in a group game in karachi without breaking a sweat. one of the reasons for defeat was a laborious 100 by Amir Sohail who displayed a very poor ability to rotate the strike. pak still put a competitive score for that era but s.a. chased it at a cantor partly due to great running between the wickets. s.a. scored at around 5.5 rpo without hitting a single six. also from that point, s.a. had the wood over pakistan and won something like 15 straight odis. incidentally it was due to that defeat that pak had to travel to banglore for the fateful match. playing w.i. in karachi would have been a much easier prospect which is what awaited pak had the s.a. been defeated.

very similar story of pak and austrailia after 1997 series. austrailia next toured pak in 1998 where they annihilated a very good pak team at home. one match particularly stands out from that series

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...tan-vs-australia-1st-odi-64592/full-scorecard

this was very depressing game to watch as a pakistani supporter. in those days, it was unheard of for a top team to score 300+ in an odi against another top team. yet that is exactly what australia achieved in hot karachi heat. however the most remarkable stat about that inning is that aussies only hit one six while reaching a score of 324.

it is good to see pak management is finally putting effort on fitness. hopefully effort will translate into results as they have done for india.

 

[umerz]

Agreed, with the exception of one man who bullied his way into the WC squad and then into playing 11.

I still remember that media mafia driven campaign that started in spring of 1994, exerted so much for pressure on the cricket board throughout 94 and 95, and eventually got that man undeservingly into the world Cup squad, I would have given up anything to have someone more capable in that middle order.

That man was made to appear in two trial matches against quality bowlers including Waqar Y and he belted them in both games IIRC. one of the game i guess he made 88 of 65 something and 60 odd in another game.