Misbah-ul-Haq bats for full World Test Championship, equal opportunity for teams – News Block

With cricket, like almost all major sports and activities, forced to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, one of the key questions is how to bring the inaugural World Test Championship, which is scheduled for June 2021, to a nice conclusion. .

Several series that are part of the Championship have been postponed in recent weeks, with limited scheduling and time making it virtually impossible to meet all fixtures before the end date.

“When we finally start to return to normal life and cricket can resume, all sides should have equal chances and the tournament should not be shortened,” Misbah told a video news conference.

“No game should be cancelled, even if it means prolonging the Championship. Each team should have the opportunity to play all the games they had scheduled in this cycle.”

Otherwise you won’t get the real picture of what the rankings should have been and only some teams play all their games. That will upset the balance of the tournament. For me, it doesn’t matter if this goes beyond 2021 if that’s what it takes for everyone to have an equal opportunity. That’s not a problem.”

England’s three-match Test series in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh’s second Test series in Pakistan are among the most notable matches of the World Test Championship to be postponed, but it remains highly likely that most, if not all, cricket in the next few months win. forward

That means England’s three-match Test series against the West Indies and Pakistan is also in jeopardy, as is West Indies’ two-match Test series against South Africa.

The seasonal demands of Test cricket mean that rescheduling of these games before June 2021 is unlikely, and if all Championship games are to be honored, extending the tournament would appear to be the only solution. That would mean delaying the start of the second World Test Championship competition, which will start immediately after.

Misbah also spoke about the challenges the players faced in staying fit while making sure they stayed home, revealing that the coaching staff was monitoring their progress via fitness watches.

“All of our centrally contracted players and those in our broader group are in full contact with the coaching staff and physical trainer. We send them the training plans that we want them to follow and keep fit as best as we can. We want to make sure that that when cricket resumes, the physical condition of our players will be the same as before and meet the demands of international cricket.

“We have online groups where we ask players how they think they’re doing. We share plans with them about what exercise regimen to follow, even if they don’t have access to gym facilities.

“Because we can’t practice on the pitch, what we can do is make sure we do our homework correctly. That applies to me as well as the players. We look at the last two series we played there and how England played in the season. spent at home, we analyze what we can do better to, as soon as we have the opportunity, get down to work.

“He has the strike rate you’ll need at the top of the order in World T20, especially against pace bowling on Australian courses. But I think Sharjeel needs to work harder. He’s back on the scene after so long, so the only thing he could have ensured was his physical condition, the only thing he could control, he was up to it.

If you really want to come back, you should have been in perfect physical shape. If you think you can make it to the team without making any trades, selecting you would be an injustice to the other players. He wasn’t pleased to see that at all. Now that there is no cricket, he should be thinking day and night that he needs to be super fit—–