Four senior Pakistan players may face axe owing to fitness issue, indicates PCB chief

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan has warned that the national team players failing to meet the required fitness standards would not be part of the team any longer.

"Head coach Mickey Arthur has told me that there are three to four players who are border line cases in terms of their fitness. Some of them are seniors. I have told the coach they should not be selected for the national team," Khan told reporters at the Gaddafi stadium after a visit to the national camp set up for the tour of the West Indies later this month. The PCB chief said the board has now made a policy that no player would be considered for selection if he failed to meet the achieve the minimum standards.

"It is a sad fact that the fitness and fielding standards of our players need improvement and not comparable to some other cricket nations," he said. "I have told the players today they need to realise how much they owe to this country and the board will not tolerate any laxity on their part if they don't focus on their fielding and fitness standards," he said. Khan also said players involved in any sort of corruption - spot-fixing or match-fixing - should also forget about playing cricket.

"We have made up our minds that if any player is found guilty of corrupt practices he should consider his career over. These things have already damaged Pakistan cricket a lot and we will show no leniency on this matter at all," he added. He said a three-member tribunal would deal with the Sharjeel Khan-Khalid Latif case and the matter was now sub judice. "The tribunal is like a court of law and whatever decision it gives it is acceptable to us. If found guilty these players face life bans."