Pak T20 team to train in high-altitude Bhurban from Thursday

The Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed today that the players would be attending a conditioning camp in Bhurban for a week after which they would come down to Lahore to play three or four practice matches.

Sources said that team's Australian trainer David Dwyer wanted the players to further raise their fitness levels and the conditioning camp in Bhurban, which is at a higher altitude, is designed to improve the physical fitness of all the players.

"Don't be surprised if the board seeks the help of Army physical instructors to assist the players in the conditioning camp at Bhurban," one source said.

In the past also, the Pakistani players have attended endurance camps at higher altitudes notably when they were sent to Abbotabad to a military academy before the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa where they lost the final to arch-rivals India.

"That training camp really helped us a lot and the players improved their stamina and focus a lot. It also helped in raising the fielding standards," Pakistan captain Younis Khan said.
Chief selector Abdul Qadir has also pointed out that Pakistan lost the recent one-day series to Australia because of their fielding and needed to improve a lot in this area.

The players have also been told to play for their teams in the national Twenty20 Championship in Lahore from May 25, which Younis felt would serve as an ideal preparation for the World Cup.
"Twenty20 cricket is different and it is good we will go to England having played in a Twenty20 tournament at home," he said.
The selectors have already announced a 15-member squad for the World Cup that includes two uncapped players, left arm pace bowler Mohammad Aamir and opener Shahzaib Hussain.