'Virat Kohli is one of the top athletes but our boys are not behind': Pakistan's Waqar Younis on fitness of cricketers

When one talks about the fitness in cricket, Indian skipper Virat Kohli is one that is always spoken off. The captain follows a strict diet and is very consistent with his workout.

Even amid the coronavirus enforced lockdown, the batsman is seen doing his workouts religiously as he shares videos of the same with his fans.

former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis himself acknowledged the same in an interview last month and had said Kohli has set the fitness bar for the players worldwide. 

“Virat Kohli has evolved the game and all the formats of the modern-day cricket including T20 Cricket, one day suits him a lot and he is brilliant at test matches. But the biggest difference he brought to cricket that is followed and watched worldwide is his fitness,” Younis had said while interacting with fans on the Twitter platform @GloFansOfficial.

“He has set a bar of fitness worldwide, for players, I think it is hard to beat. I think for that reason also, you like everything about Virat Kohli. He is fit, he is always in your face, he wants to prove you that he is the best, he is a fighter, so that is why we all like him,” the former paceman had added.

However, when it comes to the fitness of Pakistan cricketers, Younis said they can match up to Kohli’s levels of fitness. The Pakistan bowling coach said: “There is no doubt that there are too many cricketers who are fit. There are three formats when you play all three formats you have to maintain fitness standards. He (Virat) is one of the top athletes in the country. Our boys are not behind.”

“You take Babar Azam, he is very fit. He is also delivering goods. Shaheen Shah Afridi is super fit. We will set our own bar, we not copy someone else. We will set the bar that suits Pakistan cricket and will take the team forward,” Waqar added.

“But right now in the training camp they are getting better and we are working hard on ensuring their fitness levels meet those standards required in world cricket,” he further said.

As for Pakistan cricket, they will be playing 3 Tests and 3 T20Is against England with the first Test set to begin from August 5th in Manchester