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Cricket gets back into top gear in this part of the world when a reconditioning camp for a gruelling season begins at the National Stadium from Monday.

Although most of the frontline players will miss the action, the camp promises to be one of the most grilling tests of the youngsters, particularly towards the fitness side.

During the forthcoming season, starting with the Asian Test Championship game against Bangladesh at Multan from Aug 29, Pakistan will also host New Zealand and West Indies for a three- Test series besides touring Bangladesh for a two-Test series.

But the showpiece match of the season would be the Asian Test Championship clash against India at Lahore between Sept 12 and 16. If all goes according to the script, it would be India's first Test on Pakistan soil for almost 12 years.

Cricketers expected to miss the beginning of the camp include Inzamam- ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar who are currently playing county or club cricket in England.

Waqar Younis, who returned from Australia Saturday, will be the key figure during the camp. After being entrusted with the captaincy until the New Zealand series, Waqar would be hoping to see his boys more than cent percent fit to counter sweltering conditions.

However, the camp will miss the regular figure of Wasim Akram, who was humiliatingly dumped by the selectors while announcing 27 probables for the camp last Tuesday. The chairman of selectors Wasim Bari claims the great all-rounder's career was not over and if he performed in the domestic circuit, he would be recalled.

Even if Bari's words of `wisdom' are to be trusted, Wasim is certain to miss the historic Test against India because until then, the domestic competitions would not have started to give the left-hander the chance to nudge the selectors.

But does Bari have a clue that players like Wasim Akram don't need to show their fitness and form in domestic cricket. Either, they are automatically selected on their past performance or sidelined for ever if they don't fit in the selectors and administrators' future policy. But probably Bari doesn't have the courage to come out with real facts and that's precisely why he is using feeble excuses.

Bari, who has always been unconvincing, has at the same time invited Shoaib Akhtar - an injury-prone fast bowler who is rapidly becoming liability on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) - to the camp. Similarly, fellow paceman Mohammad Sami has been asked to attend the camp despite the fact that the lad has six stress fractures in his shin.

If Shoaib and Sami can improve their fitness in the camp, can't Wasim Akram? Your guess is as good as mine.

As regards Shoaib, the PCB can't be absolved of criticism for setting up a bad example for others as the paceman had ditched the team in England for which he was severely criticized by manager Yawar Saeed.

The PCB needs to draw a red line and requires to use the same yardstick to treat the players. By making obvious that it has sympathy for some and no tolerance for others, will make it a perfect punching bag for the critics.

According to the training schedule, the boys will undergo fitness drills at the Karachi Gymkhana from 7.00am while the nets will be held at the National Stadium from 3.00pm.

The invitees are: Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umer, Saeed Anwar (openers), Faisal Iqbal, Hasan Raza, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Naveed Latif (middle-order batsmen), Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat (all-rounders), Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Akram, Fazle Akber, Mohammad Sami, Irfan Fazil, Shabbir Ahmed, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan (fast bowlers), Rashid Latif, Atiq-uz-Zaman (wicket-keepers), Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Malik and Danish Kaneria (spinners).

© Dawn