‘Pakistan Need To Work On Fitness’ – Gautam Gambhir Slams Babar Azam & Co.

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Pakistan's lacklustre performance as a fielding unit has caught the eye of former India opener Gautam Gambhir, who questioned the Asia giant's fitness standards maintained at the ICC World Cup 2023.

Gambhir believes Pakistan are held back by its poor physique and fielding display and consequently faced extensive heat in the marquee tournament in India.

The 2011 world champion exclaimed there is a "huge difference" between Pakistan's fitness and fielding levels and the rest of the World Cup 2023 participants. Gambhir underlined it as the first box required to be ticked in the aftermath of Pakistan's league-stage exit.

Mathematically there might be a chance for Pakistan but Babar Azam and company look realistically out of semifinal contention after suffering four consecutive defeats to India, Australia, Afghanistan, and South Africa. Pakistan stand sixth in the points standings with just two earlier wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.

Gambhir Lambasts Pakistan's Fitness Standards 

The painstaking one-wicket loss to South Africa laid bare Pakistan's much-criticized issue as they stumbled upon various opportunities in the outfield and eventually lost the thriller in Chennai on Friday (October 27).

Speaking to Star Sports after Pakistan's gutwrenching defeat at Chepauk, Gambhir lambasted Babar's men for maintaining insufficient fitness and fielding standards and being exposed badly by the rest of the opposition at the ongoing World Cup.

Fitness and fielding being the two controllable, Pakistan have come up for extra flake from experts and commentators even as their inexperienced and underdeveloped unit gets sympathy from the fans, who have called for more One-Day Internationals to be arranged between World Cups for the Pakistan side to rapidly grow.

"First thing that Pakistan needs to work after the World Cup is their fitness - there is a huge difference between Pakistan and other nine teams in the fielding," Gambhir said. 

Falling behind by a mile in the knock-outs contention, Pakistan might have left irrevocable ground to recover after successive defeats and would have to play for pride in the forthcoming matches. The 1992 champions next play on Tuesday (October 31) in Kolkata against Bangladesh.