Former Pakistan cricket director Mohammad Hafeez has claimed that ex-captain Babar Azam and international coaches Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn had given workforce health lowest precedence within the lead-up to the ODI World Cup in India.
Pakistan, beneath then-skipper Babar, had did not make it to the semifinals, dropping 5 of the 9 league video games and ending fifth.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) lately didn’t renew Hafeez’s contract following disastrous excursions of Australia and New Zealand. Hafeez was made workforce director in late 2023 after Pakistan’s abysmal present within the World Cup.
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Quickly after he took cost, Pakistan was whitewashed within the three-Check collection Down Underneath, whereas it misplaced the five-match T20I collection towards the Kiwis 4-1.
“Once I took over as director (in 2023) and we reached Australia, I advised the workforce coach to provide me a report on the gamers’ health requirements and put together a brand new health routine,” stated Hafeez.
“He advised me that the previous captain (Babar) and head coach (Arthur) had advised him six months in the past that health just isn’t the precedence for the time being and let the gamers play as they wished,” Hafeez revealed on the ARY sports activities channel.
“This was surprising information for me when he (workforce coach) advised me that he was advised to not examine the gamers’ health,” added Hafeez.
Hafeez stated that when he checked the physique fats share and endurance ranges of the gamers, it was approach under the worldwide cricket requirements.
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“Health in modern-day cricket is prime precedence for all groups.”
Hafeez alleged that when exams have been carried out on some gamers in Australia, they couldn’t even end a two-km run.
“The gamers’ pores and skin fold (physique fats stage) was one-and-a-half factors above the traditional restrict,” he alleged.
Former Check captain, Azhar Ali, who was additionally one of many consultants on the TV present, recalled that when Pakistan had gone for the ICC Champions Trophy in England in 2017, health was given prime precedence, a lot in order that the teaching employees despatched a participant (Umar Akmal) again as a result of he had failed a health check.
Arthur was the pinnacle coach of the workforce that gained the Champions Trophy, beating India within the last.
Hafeez additionally stated that it took him three months to persuade Babar to depart his opening slot and bat at No. 3 in T20Is.