It is indeed disheartening to note some of Sri Lanka’s promising players opting to burn bridges instead of falling in line and meeting the minimum fitness standards that have been put in place at the moment for players to be eligible for selection.
One of our finest talents Avishka Fernando, would have probably made his Test debut against England in January this year but his skin folds were found to be over the limit and he was sent home from Galle. To add insult to injury, he then failed the 2 kilometer run, making him ineligible for selection further. Worse, repeated fitness failures saw him losing out on a retainer as well, when the central contracts were announced.
Fernando was told in no uncertain terms that he was on thin ice and eventually he got his act together. Now that he has passed the fitness test, his return to international cricket is eagerly awaited, for there aren’t many young batsmen who can put the bowling to the sword like him.
Another clean striker of the cricket ball is Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Had he fallen in line and achieved the minimum fitness standards required, he too would have featured in Sri Lanka’s T20 set up. But he’s directing blame in all directions except himself for the status quo. It is earnestly hoped that someone with stature sits him down and drives home some pertinent points.
Does anyone remember Virat Kohli’s debut in Dambulla way back in 2008? We all knew him as someone with great potential, having skippered India to the Under-19 World Cup title in Malaysia early that year. He was quite chubby then but his insane fitness regime has seen him raising the game remarkably with a Test average of 60 and 50 plus in both white ball formats.
Kohli has not just improved his fitness but has turned around the Indian system too where fitness takes precedence over all else. There are several things that are going right for Indian cricket at the moment and certainly fitness is one of them. Who would have thought that India were going to end Australia’s unbeaten run at the Gabba stretching for three decades. Bench strength coupled with extremely high fitness standards enabled them to enter unchartered territory and a slot in the finals of the World Test Championship.
There’s a hue and cry about the two-kilometer run which players are supposed to do in less than eight minutes and 30 seconds. If you bother to check on the time slots followed in other parts of the world, Sri Lanka is not on par with rest of the teams and Director of Cricket Tom Moody has indicated that once players get comfortable with the run, they will be pushed even further. The idea seems for players to finish the run in less than eight minutes.
Moody and Head Coach Mickey Arthur see eye to eye with the fact that improved fitness levels will help raise the standards of the team. Kusal Janith Perera batting for 42 overs in the high humidity of Dhaka last week; an indication that improved fitness levels have helped players raise their game. You also see players pushing for the third run in recent months whereas for quite some time they were content with two runs and didn’t put pressure on the fielder.
There has been some criticism on doing a fitness test while on tour. Sri Lanka’s players were subjected to one such test in between the Bangladesh ODIs and that didn’t go down too well with some observers, claiming that during a tour the focus has to be on preparing for games and working out your strategies than getting your fitness in order.
It is a dangerous path that Sri Lanka is treading upon with their new fitness structure, some say. Obviously, you have to qualify for the upcoming T20 World Cup and given Sri Lanka’s current standing in ODI cricket, it well could be that they will not qualify for the 50 over World Cup in 2023 automatically as well.
So, you do need to have your best players on the park rather than throwing them out for failing fitness standards. In the end, what matters is that if a player is able to win you a game of cricket with the bat or ball and not whether he could run two kilometers under a stipulated time. When the yo-yo test used to be the benchmark in Sri Lanka for fitness, there was a particular fast bowler who was given an exception and was exempted from the test because he had knee injuries. It was an exceptional case as he was a proven match winner.
While there can be such exceptions, moving forward as well what you cannot condone is a 22-year-old professional, not being able to run two kilometers in the stipulated time or maintain skin folds to a certain level . Fitness has been an area that has been long neglected and the current swim or sink policy has resulted in the players putting in the hard yards. The results will be seen soon but those who fail to fall in line will live to regret their decisions.
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ThePapare.com.
