KARACHI — The Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) plans to introduce fitness-based central contracts for the cricketers received a thumbs-up from captain Misbahul Haq who believes the team will reap its benefit in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The PCB is set to introduce the new contracts from this year with a penalty-and-point system to up the fitness level of a side not really known for their athleticism on the field. “It is a constructive step because the better the fitness of the players, the more they will be able to endure pressure and perform consistently well,” Test and one-day captain Misbah told reporters in Lahore Wednesday. Misbah, 40, said the players benefited from the camp and the board was moving in the right direction by laying stress on fitness levels. “In modern day cricket, fitness is a key element for success because teams are playing virtually non-stop international cricket and players also take part in these T20 leagues now,” he said. Misbah said with better fitness levels, Pakistani players would improve its fielding standards which would be instrumental in matches leading up to the World Cup 2015. Misbah, whose captaincy has been a point of debate, said he was not bothered by the issue. “My job is to perform in whatever role given to me. The captaincy is a matter in the hands of the board,” he said. He stressed that several talented young players were capable of taking over from him and should be groomed for the captaincy. Misbah is retained as captain until next year's World Cup but Pakistan has not picked his replacement yet. Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, 33, was the likely candidate to take over but he stepped down after Pakistan's disastrous World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in April where it failed to reach the semifinals for the first time in five editions of the tournament. Former captain Shahid Afridi, 34, has shown interest in one-day captaincy while Saeed Ajmal reportedly turned down the Twenty20 captaincy. Ahmed Shehzad, 22, is seen as “too young” to handle the responsibility. “There are lots of players who could be given the captaincy, Azhar Ali is doing captaincy, Umar Akmal is doing captaincy (at domestic level),” said Misbah when asked of the potential candidates to take over from him. “I think when they get some experience and automatically when the time comes on them you can give them this responsibility, this is important that board or team management give confidence to whichever player they want to be groomed (as captain),” said Misbah. “All the youngsters do understand the game and are doing the hard work and performing and they have cricketing sense and that's what you need in the future (for a captain),” he said. The veteran batsman had led Pakistan in Tests since 2010 and a year later was drafted as one-day captain after Afridi fell out with the management. PCB defied calls to replace Misbah, who led Pakistan to seven one-day series wins and was the world's top scorer in one-day cricket last year, with 1,373 runs. Misbah praised incoming head coach Waqar Younis, who will start his second stint next month. “Waqar has a lot of loyalty with the Pakistan team. When he was the coach he has very outstanding contributions,” said Misbah of Waqar, who was head coach from March 2010 to August 2011. Waqar guided Pakistan to World Cup 2011 semifinal. Pakistan tours Sri Lanka for two Tests and three one-day in August. — Agencies
