Azhar Ali, who has been advised a four-week rest, will be including in the emerging camp for youngsters which will take place after Ramadan. PHOTO: AFP
The 29-year-old will be kept out of vigorous action, but will continue light exercises under the eye of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) medical panel.
“Azhar will have to rest out this training camp because we can’t take risks with any player especially with the upcoming series against Sri Lanka,” a PCB official told The Express Tribune.
“But the board will definitely invite him for the emerging training camp that will begin after the month of Ramazan and he’ll train along with the youngsters to achieve top fitness levels.”
Apart from Azhar, the remaining 39 players reported on the first day of camp to undergo screening tests. The main training will commence Thursday onwards.
‘Our main aim is to improve players’ fitness’
Camp commandant and National Cricket Academy (NCA) head coach, Mohammad Akram, stressed that the main purpose of the camp is to improve the fitness levels.
“We want to lay special emphasis on fitness and we’ll maintain centralised database of players from now on so that the national selection committee can make proper assessments before making a selection,” said Akram.
The camp will be divided into three phases; the players will participate in the physical training camp for 18 days, while for the next 10, they will work on different drills and sets of skills. In the end, practices matches will take place between the probables before the camp concludes.
Akram further stated that after the seniors’ camp, the PCB will announce one for the youngsters that will be of immense importance.
He stressed that his focus will be more towards the latter camp because Pakistan can obtain players suitable for the next 10 years as they will be calling the country’s top U19 and domestic players.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2014.
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it doesent matter how many camps you hold. Players like Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Abdul Rehman, etc are all in their late 30s and are incapable of improving their fitness at this stage. The PCB should concentrate all efforts on the under 19 and ages 20-25 players and groom them so they can quickly take over from the old and aged likes of Afridi and co.