Pakistan Test coach Jason Gillespie highlighted the importance of fitness in the team ahead of their two-match red-ball series against Bangladesh in August. In the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan crashed out of the group stage and received massive backlash from former Pakistan cricketers and some sections of fans. Fielding and inconsistency were the two aspects of the Pakistan team that were heavily criticised. Apart from that, the fitness level of the players also turned out to be another point of backlash for the players.

Some sections of fans, along with former Pakistan cricketers including Wasim Akram, Kamran Akmal and many more stars, have been critical of the players’ fitness.

Gillespie is looking to improve the fitness level within the team and said, as quoted from Geo News, “In international cricket, you have to remain fit, there are no questions on that. In international cricket, everyone should know about the importance of fitness. It is the main component of a sportsman.”

After Babar Azam was reinstated as the white ball captain in place of Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood is expected to lead the side in the two-match Test series.

Gillespie disclosed that he has had conversations with the Test skipper and will hold talks with the players about the brand of cricket that they want to play.

“I have talked to Shan Masood [Pakistan’s red-ball capain] one or two times, I’m hoping we will play positive cricket. I will [also] discuss with the players about what brand of cricket they want to play, the team will be selected while taking the opposition and conditions in mind,” he said.

“If a player is good for the team, he will definitely be selected. I’m in contact with Gary Kirsten [Pakistan’s white-ball coach] for players’ workload management,” he added.

The former Australian pacer asserted that his focus is on red-ball cricket and he has had conversations with previous coaches as he aims to improve the team.

“My focus is red-ball cricket. I will also travel to Australia and watch their players. I have talked with Jeff Lawson and Shaun Tait [Pakistan’s former bowling coach] on the Pakistan cricket team,” Gillespie said.

Pakistan’s Test series against Bangladesh will begin on August 21 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The second Test will be played on August 30 at National Stadium Karachi.

Pakistan World Cup winner Mushtaq Ahmed praised under-fire Pakistan captain Babar Azam, and stated that he requires contributions from the rest of the players. He went on to ask that more respect be shown towards Babar. Babar and the rest of the Pakistan team were heavily criticised by former players, experts and fans as Pakistan crashed out of the 2024 T20 World Cup after the group stage. However, Mushtaq Ahmed rushed to Babar’s defence, stating that he has increased his aggression.

“Babar’s intent has definitely changed in the past year. He has shown aggression in his batting. If a person can improve so much, I think that’s enough,” Mushtaq said to Cricket Pakistan.

“Other players also have a duty to score runs; they have a role to play too. If one person gives you a score, but the rest of our players don’t go on to score in the remaining 7-8 overs, then there’s a problem,” he added.

“This has been happening for 3-4 years. They (other players except Babar) only score when it doesn’t make a significant impact,” stated Mushtaq.

Babar was Pakistan’s top runscorer in the 2024 T20 World Cup, scoring 122 runs in four games, but at a strike rate of just 101.66. Mohammad Rizwan, who scored the second-most runs, had a strike rate of just 90.90.

Mushtaq called for people to respect Babar more, and not forget his contributions to Pakistan cricket.

“If we talk about Babar, there’s a reason why people respect him worldwide. He brings honour to Pakistan. I think sometimes people are very hard on him,” said Mushtaq.

Babar Azam currently ranks among ICC’s top 5 batsmen in all three formats; No. 1 in ODIs, No. 3 in Tests and No. 4 in T20Is.

Despite a rocky T20 World Cup campaign, Babar is expected to retain captaincy, with the ‘major surgery’ earlier promised by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi reportedly unlikely.

Pakistan cricket team batting stalwarts Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed are in the news again for the wrong reasons. After the nation’s group stage exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup, many former players, experts and fans have called for a major reshuffling in the team, and for many senior players to be chopped off. Whilst no major changes are likely to be made yet, a video has resurfaced across X, showing Rizwan and Iftikhar struggling against a Pakistani net bowler in a practice session.

In the video that has rapidly gone viral, Rizwan and Iftikhar are being beaten by pace and bounce multiple times. The bowler, however, is not Shaheen Shah Afridi or Naseem Shah, but local bowler Nouman Khan Khaira.

Fans gave no mercy to Rizwan or Iftikhar.

“These local boys should be taken into the Pakistani team and those playing for the side should be rested,” said one user on X.

“They even struggled against part time software engineers of USA,” joked another user on Instagram.

These local boys should be taken into Pakistani teams and those playing for the side should be rested.

— Umar (@umartweets_) July 5, 2024

Rizwan struggled for form during the 2024 T20 World Cup. Despite finishing as Pakistan’s second-highest run-scorer, he batted at a disappointing strike rate of just 90. Most notably, Rizwan failed to guide Pakistan to a victory against India despite being well set during the run chase.

Iftikhar, on the other hand, made just 23 runs in two games, and was dropped from the playing XI.

Pakistan’s early exit

Pakistan exited the 2024 T20 World Cup in the group stage, after back-to-back losses to co-hosts USA and then arch-rivals India in their opening two games. The results led to many criticising Pakistan captain Babar Azam and the rest of the unit, with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi promising a “major surgery”.

However, recent reports have suggested that Naqvi is unlikely to make large-scale changes in order to avoid conflict with the senior players.

Rashid Latif has fired an ultimatum to star Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.© AFP

File image of Babar Azam (right) and Shaheen Shah Afridi.© AFP

The Pakistan Cricket Board might not be able bring about major changes in the national team in the wake of the side’s dismal performance in the T20 World Cup 2024 as that could lead to a confrontation with senior players, according to sources. PCB’s governing board, scheduled to meet here on Saturday, will take cognizance of white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten and senior team manager Wahab Riaz’s reports submitted to chairman Mohsin Naqvi. But a source said, only cosmetic changes will take place and the “same set of players” would likely continue to play.

Naqvi had been quoted as saying following Pakistan’s defeat to India in the World Cup that a “major surgery” was required in the team.

“The reports by Kirsten and Riaz will help the Governing Board and chairman Naqvi decide the next course of action but all indications are there Naqvi doesn’t want a confrontation with senior players and he has also been advised against massive changes in the team,” a source told PTI.

“There are so many outside voices and pressures from within the system that all this talk about big changes is unlikely to happen. So, basically, with a few changes, the same set of players will be in the Pakistan team for coming games as well in all formats,” he added.

On whether Babar Azam would be retained as white-ball captain following the dismal T20 World Cup showing, another source said that while there is a group, including some former Test captains, which wants to see Shaheen Afridi replace Babar, if there are changes, the prime candidates for captaincy would be Shan Masood and Muhammad Rizwan.

“You could see cosmetic changes, like changes in the selection committee, and the same old story of reorganising domestic cricket to help do damage control. But the senior players remain strong,” he said.

Kirsten’s report is said to contain the same observations he made during his interaction with the players in the dressing room after the match against Ireland in the Group stage.

Kirsten had warned senior pros in the side following the team’s loss to the USA and India to adapt to new skill-sets and improve their game awareness or get left behind. Wahab, on the other hand, outlined personality clashes in the side during the World Cup.

Pakistan next play a two-Test series against Bangladesh followed by three Tests against England. It is unlikely that senior players like Babar and Rizwan would want to take a break from these assignments. 

Major changes are expected in the Pakistan team following a disappoint exit from the T20 World Cup. The Babar Azam-led side was eliminated from the tournament in the group stage after losing to USA and India. The team continues to attract criticism from the cricket fraternity and fans, with some even suggesting that the board should sack the entire team. Days after arriving in Pakistan, captain Babar Azam was seen training in Lahore at the training complex of the Gaddafi Stadium. Amid criticism of the team, a video went viral on social media, where a few Pakistan players were seen doing catching drills.

In a bizarre incident, some of the players, including opening batter Imam-ul-Haq, were seen doing catching practice on old mattresses. However, the video has been drawing flak, with fans labelling the drill as “ridiculous”.

Here’s the video:

Imam-ul-Haq and others having special fielding drills with coach @Masroor173 in Pre Season Fitness Camp in Karachi pic.twitter.com/zL9qrwGVba

— Shahzaib Ali (@DSBcricket) July 2, 2024

Here’s how fans reacted:

They are making a joke out of themselves.

No wonder PCB is in a clown state.

— Rahul (@tweets_Sky33) July 3, 2024

Ball toh 2 fielders ke beech hi girna hai

— Crictic (@terikehkeluga) July 2, 2024

This is so ridiculous – cricket is the richest sport and these professionals are honing their craft on bed mattresses! I reckon the fields in the next series they play will be covered with these..

— Rajasthani Tau Ji (@Rajasthanii_Tau) July 3, 2024

Yar is Matress say behtar hai grass pey jump kar lain

— Faisal Syed (@FHASEEN) July 2, 2024

Never seen them do this successfully when it’s necessary on a field

— Hihi Gadid (@bigbrownenergy) July 3, 2024

Following their early exit from the tournament, the Pakistan players have been accused of playing politics withing the team. Rumours have also been rampant that there is groupism in the team with senior members not in the same page.

On Tuesday, Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan spoke to the media in Peshawar to address the team’s early exit from the T20 World Cup in the Americas.

While Rizwan admitted that while the criticism from the fans is justified, he rubbished the rumours of politics and groupism within the team, labelling it as ‘outside chatter’.

“People are saying that there’s some politics within the team, and there are some differences. If there were any differences, we have also lost games before. This is just outside chatter. This same team has played finals, semi-finals, but it is true that we haven’t won a trophy,” Rizwan said during a press conference in Peshawar.

“The criticism the team is facing is justified, and we deserve this since we didn’t meet expectations. Players who can’t face criticism won’t be able to succeed. We are disappointed with our performance in the T20 World Cup. There are multiple reasons behind our losses. When a team loses, one can’t say that bowling and batting is doing well,” he added.

Mohammad Rizwan rubbished the rumours of politics and groupism withing the team.© AFP

Mohammad Rizwan spoke to the media in Peshawar, Pakistan.© X (Twitter)

A report in the ‘Jang’ newspaper stated that some Pakistani players accepted appearance fee as low as USD 2500 per person to attend a meet-and-greet function in Dallas on the sidelines of the T20 World Cup 2024. It also stated that another event, ‘A night with stars’, was called off because of differences in payments made to captain, Babar Azam and other players. All these revelations are going to be analysed during the postmortem of the league-stage exit, following losses to tournament debutants USA and arch-rivals India.

While the board has had four chairmen since December 2022, none of the senior management level officials have been moved or terminated.

“It is now becoming clear that if the players are today an indisciplined and careless lot, the blame for this falls on some of the senior management officials who have been patronising them in many ways including in the finalisation of the central contracts last year,” the source added.

Adding to the drama is the speculation that the team is a divided house with Babar and pacer spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi at loggerheads over captaincy.

Pakistan’s shambolic T20 World Cup campaign in the USA is all set to trigger a churning in the country’s cricket board and lead to the formulation of a code of conduct for players, who are drawing criticism for taking their families along and making paid appearances at promotional events during the tournament.

A reliable source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed that Chairman Mohsin Naqvi is livid with the performance of some senior officials and held them responsible for the indiscipline prevailing in the team, which could not go beyond the league stage.

“You can expect the PCB to lose senior management level officials and also enforce some strict policies for the players in future,” the source said.

He said a policy decision on players not being allowed to have their families in ICC and other major events is also expected to be announced soon by the PCB as part of its clean-up operation.

“The fact that so many players not only took their wives and children to the World Cup even had their parents, brothers etc staying in the team hotel has left the chairman unhappy,” the source said.

He said when inquiries were made as to who gave permission for players to take all their family members on tour, it came to light that some senior officials in the board were behind this decision.

“Some of these officials are not professionals but fans of the players and have given them lot of concessions which eventually led to the World Cup debacle,” the source said.

He said the PCB chief had now asked for a performance assessment report from all senior management level officials as he is also unhappy with the progress of work for the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled early next year in Pakistan.