Bangladesh players fail the new fitness test of the 1600m run, failing to live up to the standards being set.
A few other Bangladeshi players fell short of the standards in Sunday’s 1600-meter running at the National Stadium, despite Nahid Rana’s impressive performance in the fitness training.
Previously, the Yo-Yo or beep tests were used to track players’ fitness. However, the team management has chosen to use the 40-meter sprint and the 1600-meter run to gauge players’ health since Nathan Keily, the new strength and conditioning coach, took over.
The 1600-meter run was said to have taken pacemaker Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Tanvir Islam, and Shamim Patowary around eight minutes to finish. In contrast, Rana finished the 1600-meter run in under 5 minutes and 31 seconds, making him the best of the 22 cricket players that participated in the fitness test.
“Rana was just outstanding,” a member of the team management told on Sunday. “Few others also did well, but at the same time there were couple of cricketers who could not meet our expectations.”
In the first batch, Mehedi Hasan Miraz finished second with a time of 6 minutes and 1 second, while Mushfiqur Rahim, who is no longer competing in One Day Internationals or Twenty20s, finished third with a time of 6 minutes and 10 seconds for the 1600 meters.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib, one of 15 cricket players in the second group, completed the 1600 meters in 5 minutes and 53 seconds. Parvez Hossain Emon finished third with 6 minutes and 13 seconds, followed by Shahadat Hossain Dipu, who finished in 6 minutes.
T20 skipper Liton Kumar Das and Towhid Hridoy were among the six cricketers from the 25-member preparatory camp who did not make it to the fitness test.