LAHORE: National Cricket Academy head coach Mushtaq Ahmed on Thursday said that greater emphasis was being laid on enhancing players’ fitness and mental toughness level in the high performance camp in progress here at the NCA.

“It is a very important venture [camp] where the coaches are working on different aspects of the game even basics of the game which will never change besides focusing on improving players’ fitness and mental toughness [levels] which help them in becoming great cricketers at international level,” Mushtaq, a former Test spinner, told reporters here while giving his input on the first two weeks training of the ten-week camp.

Mushtaq, 47, said the prime objective of the high performance camp was to improve the performance level of the players so that they could deliver under high pressure situations in international competitions while pushing themselves for achieving set targets.

“If a player has the capacity to run five kilometres, we are motivating him through various physical drills to take his effort level to seven kilometres. This capacity building will definitely be an added advantage for him in his international career,” said the former Test leg-spinner who played 52 Tests capturing 185 wickets at an average of 32.97.

Terming the long-duration NCA camp a component of modern cricket training system, Mushtaq said the camp would help the players sharpen their skills to bring them to the required level of tough competitive cricket.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2017