Nahid Rana only 'elite' in fitness test

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has conducted a fitness test of the cricketers at the athletics turf of the National Stadium today, Sunday.

The fitness test was conducted in two phases with pacers Nahid Rana and Tanzim Hasan Sakib doing well than others.

After some warm-up, the cricketers had to run 1,600 meters without any breaks. Nahid Rana is ahead of Tanzim in terms of completing the entire race.

Nahid took 5 minutes 31 seconds, while Tanzim finished the race in 5 minutes 53 seconds.

There are three benchmarks set for the national team. If someone can finish the race in 5 minutes 40 seconds, then he is considered 'elite'. If he takes 5 minutes 40 seconds to 6 minutes 20 seconds, he is considered 'competent' or 'satisfactory'. If he takes more than this, he is considered 'limited'.

In this regard, Nahid Rana is the only 'elite' among the cricketers who took part in the fitness test.

All but two have passed the fitness test satisfactorily. The cricketers took this test after a two-day fitness camp in Mirpur for the Asia Cup.

T20 captain Liton Das and batter Towhid Hridoy were out of country at this moment and hence didn't take part in the fitness test. The four cricketers of the 'A' team, who were included in the preliminary squad for the Asia Cup, were also not there, as they are in Australia now to play the Top End T20 series.

Players like Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan, Hasan Murad, Taijul Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Amite Hasan and pacer Anamul Haque who were not in the Asia Cup preliminary squad attended the fitness test.