Fitness is key to play longer, says Farhad Reza

All-rounder Farhad Reza on Wednesday said the good quality of fitness is the key to play longer in professional cricket. 

Reza is currently busy with the fitness and conditioning camp of the Bangladesh national cricket team. The Tigers are all set to start their new home season with the solitary Test against Afghanistan commencing from September 5 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. 

After that, Bangladesh will face Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in a tri-nation T20 tournament in Chattogram and Dhaka. 

Reza, the 33-year-old pace-bowling all-rounder of Bangladesh, played his first List-A game back in 2005. One year later, he was inducted in one-day international cricket as well. The all-rounder is still at the center of contention of the selectors to be considered in T20 internationals. 

“Fitness is the most important part of a cricketer. I have worked a lot with my fitness, and after five years of hard work, I am here now,” Reza told the reporters on Wednesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. 

“Look, Mushfiqur (Rahim) is batting for so long. Someone is running for a long time. It means everyone knows fitness is the key to play longer,” Reza added. 

Reza claimed that he is ready to play in any format of international cricket. But left the ball on the selectors’ court to decide his future in Bangladesh national team. 

“I am ready to take any challenge. I am up to play in any format of the game. But it is not up to me. The selectors will decide where they want me to play. But yes, T20 is my favorite format and I like it so much because it suits my style. I performed better whenever I got a chance in the domestic circuit last year. So I am confident of doing the same if I get selected,” he further added. 

In his long career spanning 14 years, Reza has played 122 First-class, 196 List-A and 98 T20 matches along with 34 ODIs and 13 T20s. He has scored 6872 runs in First-class and 6546 runs in List-A cricket while bagging 272 and 255 wickets respectively. 

However, the right-handed all-rounder failed to replicate the same performance in international cricket as he scored 412 runs in 31 ODI innings and 72 runs in 9 T20 innings while taking 22 and six wickets respectively.