Bangladesh all-rounder Farhad Reza on Wednesday said the good quality of fitness is the key to playing longer in professional cricket, reports UNB.
He 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 one-off Test against Afghanistan beginning on September 05 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
After the lone Test, Bangladesh will play a Tri-nation T20 series also involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in Chattogram and Dhaka.
Farhad 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 into one-day international cricket as well.
The all-rounder is still at the centre of contention of the selectors to be considered in T20 internationals.
"Fitness is the most important part of a cricketer. I've worked a lot with my fitness, and after five years of hard work, I'm here now," he told reporters at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
"Look, Mushfiqur (Rahim) is batting for a long time. Someone is running for a long time. It means everyone knows fitness is the key to playing longer," the all-rounder added.
He claimed that he is ready to play in any format of international cricket, but left the ball on selectors' court to decide his future in the Bangladesh national team.
"I'm ready to take any challenge. I'm up to play 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 favourite format and I like it so much because it suits my style.
I performed better wherever I got a chance in the domestic circuit over the last years. So, I'm confident of doing the same if I get selected," Farhad Reza further said.
In his long career spanning 14 years, he played 122 First-class, 196 List-A and 98 T20 matches along with 34 ODIs and 13 T20Is. He scored 6872 runs in First-class and 6546 runs in List-A cricket while bagged 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 T20I innings while took 22 and six wickets respectively.