Former national skipper Mohammad Ashraful looked to have lost nothing as far as his fitness is concerned during his three years of suspension as he returned fitter than ever.
\nAshraful, whose three-year suspension due to an involvement in match-fixing at Bangladesh Premier League ended on August 13, performed to a satisfactory level during a fitness test held on Tuesday.
\nAshraful resumed training using the Bangladesh Cricket Board facilities on August 18 and left BCB\u2019s High-Performance strength and conditioning coach Corey Bocking somewhat surprised with his endurance.
\nCorey, who was recently assigned with women\u2019s cricket team for their tour of Ireland, took the fitness test at the National Cricket Academy ground.
\nAshraful covered the entire academy field for eight times during his uninterrupted nine minutes running at full pace to put an example of his recent fitness.
\n\u2018He looks really good,\u2019 Bocking told New Age on Tuesday at Mirpur.
\n\u2018The outcome of the fitness test was amazing considering that he was out of cricket for two to three years,\u2019
\n\u2018It won\u2019t take him long to regain full fitness but still his present state is quite okay,\u2019 he said.
\nCorey recently conducted the same fitness test with High Performance unit players and it was learnt that only young Mehedy Hasan, skipper of the previous Under-19 squad, had better performance than Ashraful.
\nAshraful said that he was always determined not to look out of sorts when he arrives after completing his suspension.
\n\u2018I missed cricket a lot during last three to three and a half years,\u2019 said Ashraful.
\n\u2018But I was determined I don\u2019t want to look like I was away and prepared me that way,\u2019 said Ashraful.
\n\u2018This was a challenge with my own self,\u2019 he said.
\n\u2018Due to this, I tried to play wherever I got a chance and practiced on my own,\u2019 said the youngest Test centurion.
\nAshraful said that he will again give a fitness test to have a close look at his fitness level after three weeks as he will follow a fitness programme prepared by Bocking during this time.
\n\u2018Basically he saw my present state through this fitness test,\u2019 said Ashraful.
\n\u2018He will provide me with a three-week fitness programme,\u2019
\n\u2018I will try to follow it alone and later will give another test. Let\u2019s see how far I can improve,\u2019 he said.
\nThe right handed batsman began to use the facilities of the academy premises only four days and during this short span looked to have impressed his childhood coach Wahidul Gani during one of the practice session at the centre wicket.
\n\u2018It is just the beginning and I am sure he will go a long way from here,\u2019 Wahidul told New Age watching him play a shot over the cover fielder coming dancing down the wicket against a left-arm spinner.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/strong> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former national skipper Mohammad Ashraful looked to have lost nothing as far as his fitness is concerned during his three years of suspension as he returned fitter than ever. Ashraful, whose three-year suspension due to an involvement in match-fixing at Bangladesh Premier League ended on August 13, performed to a satisfactory level<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n