Pakistan now faces similar circumstances in the recent test against Sri Lanka, which is yet to be concluded. Pakistan is playing four specialist bowlers, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain and Razzaq. Sri Lanka has a target of 200 plus on the fifth and final day and Wasim and Saqlain, the two most important bowlers are injured and might not bowl on the last and most important day of the match.
Similar problems happened with Pakistan in World Cup 99 when Yousuf Youhana who played an exceptionally good innings against Australia in league match was injured and could not play the remaining matches of the World Cup. He appeared in the World Cup only once after that and even that was with the runner. Yousuf's injury was a great loss for Pakistani batting.
Sachin Tendulkar, India's star batsman and arguably the world's best batsman is facing a back injury that has caused him to stay out of cricket arena for quite some time now. Courtney Walsh has injured his knee before the start of series against Zimbabwe. He needs 9 more wickets to break the record of Kapil Dev's 434 wickets. Shane Warne also has fitness problems. A very talented quickie from Pakistan, Mohammad Zahid is now out of the cricket arena for a very long time because of a back injury.
Cricket nowadays is a very demanding and full-time job. Cricket is a profession now not a hobby. This required a lot of hard work for the fitness of player. Every team has qualified persons for the maintenance of the players.
Minor injuries, which cause the players to pull out of two to three matches, are something that should be avoided or overcome. These injuries are mainly due to carelessness of players, as they don't give a lot of time towards their fitness.
Teams like Australia and South African very rare have injury problems as their players give a lot of importance to fitness and they are more enthusiastic and active on the field. World's two best fielders Johnty Rodes and Ricky Ponting are from South Africa and Australia respectively and they show that what fitness means.
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