Pakistan's centrally contracted players to undergo fitness tests next week

Pakistan's centrally contracted players, including Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shaheen Afridi will undergo fitness tests here on January 6 and 7, the country's cricket board (PCB) said on Friday. The two-day testing will be held under the tutelage of Pakistan cricket team's strength and conditioning coach Yasir Malik at the National Cricket Academy here. "All the available centrally contracted players will attend the two-day testing, which is aligned to their contracts," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a media release. "Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan, who will be occupied with their commitments in the Bangladesh Premier League, will undergo the tests on January 20 and 21," it further added.

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The PCB also said a player will be subjected to a 15 per cent fine of his monthly retainer incase he fails to meet the minimum fitness requirements while a constant defaulter will risk the chance of a demotion in his central contract. "Any player failing to meet the minimum fitness requirements will be fined 15 per cent of his monthly retainer, which will remain effective until such time he achieves the minimum fitness standards." "Player failing consecutive tests will risk the chances of retaining his central contract category and may face demotion."

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The test will cover five major areas, namely fat analysis, strength, endurance, speed endurance and cross-fit, and will carry equal weightage. "There has always been an emphasis on the monitoring of players' fitness levels," PCB Director Cricket - International, Zakir Khan said. "This time we have decided to enforce penalties, which is in accordance with the contracts, as part of our objective to make the players more accountable and responsible for maintaining high fitness standards throughout the year," he added.

Khan further said that domestic players will also have to undergo the tests.  "These fitness tests will not be limited to the centrally contracted players, but will trickle down to the six Cricket Association teams." "Their tests will be conducted by their respective coaches and trainers as per their own schedules and players failing to pass fitness tests will jeopardise their chances of featuring in the Pakistan Cup One-Day Tournament to be held from March 25 to April 19," Khan added.

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Centrally contracted players

Category A: Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah

Category B: Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Abbas, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi

Category C:  Abid Ali, Hasan Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz.

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