Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the obsession with fitness of players in Indian cricket, claiming that players like Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant are often criticised for their fitness level. Despite being a run machine for Mumbai in the domestic circuit, Sarfaraz was always overlooked in the matter of Indian Test team selection. Despite concerns over fitness level, Sarfaraz has proved his haters wrong by scoring his first international century against New Zealand in Bengaluru. Pant also criticised for his fitness. But Sunil Gavaskar has a very clear opinion about the matter: strong mentality matters more than fitness.
“Sarfaraz Khan has been denied a place in the Indian team for some years now, despite scoring runs by the hundreds in domestic cricket. This was largely because those in a position to make decisions believed he didn’t have the slim waist they deemed necessary for international cricket”, said Gavaskar.
“Sarfaraz’s returns on the field with the bat were even more prodigious than his waistline. Sadly, Indian cricket has had too many decision-makers with ideas that are hard to fathom,” said Gavaskar.
The former cricketer said, “Rishabh Pant is another player who doesn’t possess the slim waist that these fitness purists seem to want, but what an impact player he is. Let’s not forget that he also keeps wickets all day, which not only requires getting up and down for around six hours of play but also running to the stumps to gather the throws.”
He further added, “So, please discard these yoyo-yoyo tests and instead assess how strong a player is mentally. That will be a true indicator of a player’s fitness. If a player can bat the whole day or bowl 20 overs in a day, he is match-fit, regardless of how slim or not his waist is.”