Domestic and international cricketers begin training at NHPC

Lahore:Top-performing domestic cricketers along with the international cricketers began training at the National High Performance Centre under the watchful eyes of the NHPC coaches and the members of the coaching staff of the national men’s and Shaheens sides today.

The camp has been designed to provide format-specific training to the players who are not part of the HBL Pakistan Super League 6 so they continue to train under competitive and professional surroundings.

On the first day of the camp, the players were divided into two groups – white ball and red ball – and underwent skill-based and fitness training.

The red-ball cricketers had net session in the morning, and fielding and fitness training in the evening. The white-ball players had their fielding and gym sessions in the morning and net session in the evening.

Saqlain Mushtaq, the head of international player development, is heading the camp. Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Rasheed are also working with the players in the camp. On the first training day, the players also received guidance from Misbah-ul-Haq and Ijaz Ahmed.

Saqlain and Yousuf, the two NHPC coaches, and Test cricketers Mohammad Abbas and Nauman Ali spoke to pcb.com.pk on the first day of the camp.

Head of International Player Development, Saqlain Mushtaq, said: “We are providing the best environment to these top-performing cricketers. These cricketers are full of potential and are the future of Pakistan. We are very excited to pass on our knowledge to these cricketers.

“These cricketers have a great opportunity to train under Ijaz Ahmed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, myself and Umar Rasheed.”

NHPC batting coach, Mohammad Yousuf, said: “Every player requires fine-tuning and that is what we aim to provide them. We cannot say that these players have technical flaws, but there are adjustments, which every cricketer requires. We also had them in our playing days.

“These players have been provided state-of-the-art facilities over here and this camp is a perfect opportunity for these players to learn and be ready to shine whenever they get an opportunity at the international stage.”

Nauman Ali, who started his Test career with a five-fer against South Africa and has 16 scalps in four matches, said: “This camp is of great significance. The training facilities and grounds are out of bound in most areas because of the pandemic situation so it is great to be here and have all the desired facilities and legends in shape of coaches available to us. The idea is certainly to improve my skillset from this camp.”

Mohammad Abbas, who has 84 wickets at 22.80 in 23 Tests, said: “It is a great opportunity for me and other cricketers, who are not part of the HBL Pakistan Super League 6 to train in a competitive environment under the guidance of top-quality coaches.

“Such good facilities are not available in other cities so it is a good initiative of the Pakistan Cricket Board to have the players at the National High Performance Centre for this camp from all over the country.”