Pakistan's fitness trainer targets Indian tour

David Dwyer, Pakistan's new fitness trainer, has said that he expected his team to reach its peak fitness level in time for the tour of India. "The current fitness level is okay and I have been watching enough to know that I can see what their levels probably are, and the target is to reach the top level before the important series against India," he said.

"Basically we work with these guys so that we improve the area that they are weak in, trying to get rid of the limitations that they may have," Dwyer said, adding that he would adopt a tough rugby-style fitness regimen.

"The idea of having a rugby coach is not new in cricket, things are quite the same but they are put in a different way so that these guys get something new which they have not done before." Dwyer, who has previously assisted Geoff Lawson, Pakistan's coach, vouched for the regimen's effectiveness. "I have worked with Lawson at the University of New South Wales cricket club in the year they made the grand final and won the one-day series, so the rugby style training has worked before."

Dwyer is on a two-year contract and has replaced Murray Stevenson, the South African trainer whose contract was not renewed after Pakistan's first-round exit from the World Cup.