Umar Akmal is hot water after misbehaving at fitniss test

Umar Akmal is likely to find himself in hot water with the PCB once more after he is said to have misbehaved with staff during a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The junior Akmal is believed to have exposed himself in frustration during one test, and now finds himself facing the prospect of being kicked out of the next domestic tournament.

Akmal’s elder brother Kamran is also expected to land in trouble after both brothers failed their fitness tests by significant margins. Salman Butt, too, could be in trouble with the authorities, after he stormed out of a fitness test when his request to have it rescheduled was denied.

The shortcomings of the Akmal brothers around their fitness regimes has been a talking point for several years now, with Umar last falling foul of the PCB management on this count under former head coach Mickey Arthur; he was sent home on the eve of the Champions Trophy in 2017 after a failed fitness test. Kamran, meanwhile, has not played for Pakistan since 2017, with his lack of athleticism in the outfield a major reason for his prolonged exclusion.

The perception that the Akmal brothers have never quite bought into the importance of maintaining rigorous fitness standards hasn’t helped their chances, and for all the changes that Misbah-ul-Haq has sought to bring since taking over from Arthur, the management’s commitment to high fitness standards remains undiluted. Misbah has sought to impose the same high standards in domestic cricket, with each provincial side required to regulate fitness tests on a quarterly basis.