KARACHI: Pakistan’s under-performing cricketers will undergo a series of “mental therapy” sessions during a brief training camp that seem more like a secret military exercise.
Tucked away in the suburban Steel Township, the training camp with 22 leading cricketers in attendance is closed to the media or the general public.
The camp is aimed at helping the home players warm up for their two-match Test series against Sri Lanka starting here at the National Stadium from tomorrow.
Normally a pre-series camp in Karachi takes place at the National Stadium but this time it has been set up at the Quaid-e-Azam Park in Steel Township that is situated at around a 90-minute car journey from the city center.
Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam backed the move to hold the camp away from the hustle and bustle of the city, saying that his charges can use the few days available to them ahead of the opening Test against Sri Lanka to completely focus on the cricket.
“It will be good from the players to be away from the media glare for a while,” he told Arab News in an interview. “We want to achieve several targets in the next three or four days and complete privacy will certainly be welcomed,” he said.
“The idea is to ensure that the players gel together and form an efficient unit,” he said. “The players will get mental therapy and we will ensure that they switch to the Test mode after having not played a single Test in the last 15 months,” he stressed.
Pakistan’s last Test was against India in Bangalore in December 2007. They were left without a single Test in 2008 after Australia refused to tour the country because of security apprehensions and received yet another setback when India scrapped a tour of Pakistan in January-February this year because of last November’s terror attacks in Mumbai.
The ODI and Test series against Sri Lanka was lined up by the Pakistan Cricket Board after the cancellation of the home games against India.
Pakistan flopped miserably in the last two games of the three-match One-day International series against Sri Lanka last month, losing them by 129 runs and 234 runs to suffer a 1-2 defeat in the series.
All-rounder Shoaob Malik lost his job following the ODI series debacle and now Pakistan will take the field for the Test series under the command of senior batsman Younis Khan.
“I want the players to be fully focused on cricket,” said Intikhab, a former Pakistan captain. “During the camp we will hold extensive discussions in which we (team management) will talk about our expectations and the players will speak on goals which they think are achievable.”
But the camp will not be just about the mental conditioning of the players.
Intikhab said that the players will attend physical training sessions twice a day.
“We will have morning training sessions, fielding practice and later nets sessions each day,” said Intikhab.
The coach said that the team management will try to get the handicap of Test rustiness out of the equation. “Having not played an Tests in a long time is a bit of a handicap but we will try our best to overcome it,” he said.
Speaking on a different issue, the coach hoped that the National Stadium curator will prepare a “sporting track” for the opening Test. “It’s very important for us to host a successful Test that it is played on a sporting wicket,” he said.
