Mitchell McClenaghan comes out in support of Sharjeel Khan

Karachi Kings pacer Mitchell McClenaghan has come out in support of his teammate Sharjeel Khan and claimed that he saw the left-hand opener work really hard to improve his fitness during the fifth edition of HBL Pakistan Super League.

In an interview this week, Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis said it would be too early to include Sharjeel back into national side due to his poor fitness levels.

“Sharjeel needs a lot of work right now. You can’t judge him on the basis of one or two innings,” said Waqar. “He needs to work on his fitness because where are we going to hide him in the field? Fielding is really important these days and especially in Australia where grounds are really big.”

Waqar’s statement sparked a debate on social media, with some suggesting that whether fitness should be overlooked if a player has a decent skill set.

McClenaghan wasn’t amused with the aforementioned perception about Sharjeel and took to his Twitter to dispel it.

‘‘Give the bloke a break. Witnessed him work very hard off the park everyday during PSL. Had minimal rest because he actively wanted to get fitter - often I wondered if he wasn’t trying so hard to lose weight to play for Pakistan would have he performed more consistently with rest?’’ McClenaghan tweeted.

Give the bloke a break. Witnessed him work very hard off the park everyday during PSL. Had minimal rest because he actively wanted to get fitter - often I wondered if he wasn’t trying so hard to lose weight to play for Pakistan would have he performed more consistently with rest? https://t.co/4w9XtIqM19

— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) March 21, 2020

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Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg also took this opportunity to join the debate and suggested that every player should be treated equally in order to maintain team unity.

‘‘Standards have to be set & administered consistently, no favours to anyone. It builds team culture and unity. A player not meeting them obviously doesn't want the honour and privilege of representing his country,’’ Hogg tweeted.

In his nine innings for Karachi Kings in HBL PSL 5, Sharjeel scored 199 runs at an average 24.87 and a strike-rate of 144.20.