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'Babar Azam & Coaches Were Against Fitness Training' - Hafeez's Shocking Claim

image-lsv9li5wMohammed Hafeez's contract with PCB expired after NZ T20Is [X.com]

Mohammad Hafeez, whose contract as Pakistan's coach and director of cricket expired recently following a brief stint, revealed a shocking incident from his time at the helm of affairs during the elongated Trans-Tasman tour of Australia and New Zealand in December-January. 

Hafeez said as he was taking over the team's mantle, he realised Pakistan were falling behind fitness standards, and upon asking the trainers why nothing much was being done about it, the former skipper was told that ex-leader Babar Azam and former coach Mickey Arthur didn't prioritise fitness. 

Speaking on 'A Sports', Hafeez alleged he was told that Babar and the coaching staff had sent a message to the players six months earlier that fitness wouldn't be a priority for the coming period even as substandard fitness held Pakistan back on trips to Australia and New Zealand. 


Hafeez Makes Shocking Claim Vs Babar Azam

"Let me tell when I reached Australia and gave a few guidelines to players with regards to fitness, and asked the trainer what are the standards they are operating at, he told me something really shocking, stating, 'six months back, coaches and captain told me that fitness isn't the priority right now'," Hafeez said. 


"What happened then. Six months later when I observed them, their fat levels were quite high. With some players, it was 1.5 or 2 times higher than it should be. We learnt that the players who had arrived to play Test cricket in Australia, they were all falling on standards for skin fold." 

"Then when we checked their stamina by taking the 2-km run test, some of the players couldn't even complete that and it was shocking to me."

Babar resigned from captaincy after the ICC World Cup 2023 in India in November. Under Hafeez and new skippers Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan lost the Test series with a disastrous 3-0 scoreline in Australia before losing the T20I assignment in New Zealand 4-1.