As the Pakistan senior men’s national team gets ready for their home series against Bangladesh, the focus has shifted to fitness after the issue raised a lot of controversy ahead of the T20 World Cup when the team underwent training at an Army camp.

The fitness of the players is again a matter of discussion ahead of the Test series against Bangladesh with former Pakistan captain Salman Butt picking the three fittest players in the squad.

Incidentally, Salman Butt’s list of most fit Pakistan cricketers does not include white-ball skipper Babar Azam. Salman Butt has selected Shan Masood, Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan as the fittest players in the Pakistan squad.

In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Butt emphasised that these players have demonstrated exceptional fitness levels, consistently achieving high scores in Yo-Yo tests and showcasing strong performance both in the gym and on the field.

According to him, these three are among the top ten fittest players in world cricket.

“You cannot say all the players are not fit. If you look at some of the players they are among the top 10 players in terms of fitness in World cricket. You can look at Shan Masood, Fakhar Zaman, and Mohammad Rizwan, you look at their fitness, they have achieved good scores in the Yo-Yo Tests. They are good in the gym and run well on the field,” Butt said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Though he picked three players from Pakistan as the fittest in World cricket, he still expressed concerns regarding the overall fitness levels in the squad. He said the preparations are not going as desired.

Butt said that because of the low fitness levels of a few players, the entire team is unfairly painted as unfit, overshadowing the efforts of the players who are in excellent shape.

“Things are not getting developed in the way they should be. When this happens, the entire team is blamed unfit, people won’t look at fit guys even though all the players are hardworking. The entire Pakistan is talking about the fitness of the team and it brought a storm in Pakistan, players at the junior level were asked to run. This came after people said players weren’t fit in the T20 World Cup 2024. No one questioned the physios or trainers, but instead, they started making players at the district level push hard for fitness. Those who made errors are still there,” the 39-year-old added.

Butt also said that the team management should manage the fast bowlers properly, ensuring that the pacers participate in the longest format or first-class cricket.

“You need to manage fast bowlers, the problem is they don’t play longer format, they don’t feature in FC cricket, we don’t play much Test cricket. Things are not getting developed in the way they should be. When this happens, the entire team is blamed unfit, people won’t look at fit guys even though all the players are hardworking,” Butt concluded.

Fitness will be a matter of concern as the Pakistan team faces a hectic schedule this season which kicks off with the two-Test series against Bangladesh starting August 21.