PCB to fine players 15 per cent of salary for falling short of fitness standards

Sixteen centrally-contracted players will undergo a variety of fitness assessments in Lahore on January 6 and 7

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The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced a suite of fitness tests for its centrally-contracted players will take place in Lahore next week.

Squad members will be evaluated by strength and conditioning coach Yasir Malik across five equally-weighted categories – "fat analysis, strength, endurance, speed endurance and cross-fit", according to a board statement – and any player who fails to meet minimum fitness standards will be fined 15 per cent of their monthly salary.

While such assessments are far from unusual in the professional game, the board's decision to financially penalise players is. The announcement confirms that players will continue to have their pay docked until they can demonstrate the requisite fitness levels, and threatens demotion or removal from the central contract list in such situations.

Zakir Khan, the PCB's director of international cricket, said: "There has always been an emphasis on the monitoring of players' fitness levels.

"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, which is one of the basic requirements of any professional athlete.

"All the players were informed last month of the PCB's expectations and potential sanctions in the scenario of failures."

The announcement follows a similar fitness camp ahead of last summer's World Cup, where 23 players undertook a yo-yo endurance running test just days before selectors confirmed the final 15-man squad for the tournament.

At the time, it was reported that four players – Abid Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Yasir Shah and Imad Wasim – were unable to score the required 17.4 points in the test, though Wasim and Hasnain did go on to take places in the final squad.

Nineteen players remain on deals with the board after contracts were last updated in August, with sixteen called to attend the National Cricket Academy on January 6 and 7 for the evaluations.

The three players with central contracts currently involved in the Bangladesh Premier League – Mohammad Amir, Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz – will be evaluated two weeks later, following the conclusion of the tournament on January 17.

The contract list had previously featured 33 players, but senior players Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez were among the 14 players to be culled by the PCB from the setup ahead of the 2019-20 season.