Mohammed Hafeez has reignited the debate over Azam Khan’s health.©AFP
Former Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez has reignited the debate over wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan’s fitness following the latter’s poor form in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Azam has been criticised over his fitness and form with the youngster failing to justify his selection in the squad for the tournament. In a recent interaction with PTV Sports, Hafeez shared an interesting anecdote about Azam’s fitness regime. Hafeez revealed that during his time as Pakistan’s Director of Cricket, Azam was assigned a six-week fitness programme.
However, Hafeez showed no change as a player and his stamina also declined.
“If Azam Khan joins a training programme, after six weeks he will be the same weight as when he started. His fat levels will be the same. Everyone in the Pakistan team can run two kilometres in 10 minutes but Azam Khan will cover the same distance in 20 minutes,” Hafeez told PTV Sports.
Hafeez also questioned Azam’s professionalism and dedication to the Pakistan national team, adding that he has already been given too much time to get fit.
“Being too skinny or too big is not an issue for me, but you need to train according to the requirements of the match. You need to get yourself fit to the level required. I’ve given him a fitness plan, [Azam] “You have not improved. You are in the team because you have talent but you have to deal with fitness issues. You are the only one in the team who has compromised because of fitness,” he added.
Azam has received harsh criticism from former players and was left out of the squad for India’s match against Canada.
In 13 T20I matches, Azam Khan has an average of 8.80 and a strike rate of 133.33 with a highest score of 30 not out.
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