Frequent fitness breakdowns in Indian cricket is worrying
Fitness, a word often used in sports, is extremely important. Yet, watching the frequent breakdown of Indian cricketers these days, it gives rise to suspicion something is seriously wrong. One has seen in the last few months, several cricketers getting injured. If it is due to a blow or an accident, as was the case with Rishabh Pant in the England tour, it is a different case. Pant has been haunted by bad luck, repeatedly, since the time he met with a serious car accident four years ago, near Dehradun. His recovery and return were a miracle.
The comebacks Pant staged, despite caustic criticism from a rowdy bench on social media has been glaring. Yet, Pant bounces back, repeatedly. His form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, recently, was good. Sadly, he again got injured during the ongoing ODI series against New Zealand. It is extremely important for a wicket-keeper to be super fit.
If one looks at how an ‘ageing’ MS Dhoni keeps pushing himself in his 40s, season after season for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, it is a marvel. He may not be scoring ‘sixes’ like before, but with glovework, Dhoni is still electrifying. And that is despite not playing competitive cricket throughout the year.
Look at the other injuries which players have suffered, from Shubman Gill to Washington Sundar. Is it due to an overdose of cricket or lacking fitness is definitely open to interpretations. For those who will say an overdose of cricket or playing all formats, that is bunkum. Go back to the legends who played plenty of cricket, from Sunil Gavaskar to Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar to Rahul Dravid. How they maintained fitness was a lesson. Gavaskar never believed he had to run mile after mile, for him fitness was about running between wickets or how much he had to cover in the ground.
And for those who may say Gavaskar played Test cricket, mostly, that is still the most demanding format. To play T20 cricket is child’s play compared to the rigours of Test cricket. Ramji Srinivasan, who had worked with the Indian team as strength and conditioning expert says the very definition of fitness is wholistic. “Someone like Sachin Tendulkar never believed in too much weight training. He would run a lot, with all his batting gear on. Other than that, he never was into too much weight training,” said Ramji, who is a consultant with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
Today, there seems to be more emphasis on hitting the gym. To do weights is not just fitness. There has to be cardio effort, be it on the ground or in the gym. Ramji feels people are more focused on “S and C” as the jargon goes for strength and conditioning. There seems to be a lack of awareness on how to work on the core, and being flexible.
The latest injury to Washington Sundar, forcing him out of the ODI series as well as the T20 series against New Zealand is cause for concern. How is this even happening since these players have access to best physios, trainers and gyms. Perhaps, the BCCI needs to mine the data on injured players.
In contrast, even though Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are ‘ageing,’ they are match-fit and pushing hard. To set an example for the youngsters, RoKo are doing it again.
