The Indian cricketers, like everyone else, have been forced to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since their tour of New Zealand which ended in February, they haven’t played any competitive cricket meaning it’s been over two months for them without match practice.
In fact, Virat Kohli and Co. haven’t been able to train properly and to ensure their physical and mental fitness, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come up with a four-stage programme that has been handed over to the cricketers.
According to TOI, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah is reviewing the process on a daily basis.
Here’s a brief explanation of the programme:
Stage 1: During the complete lockdown, each centrally contracted cricketer was presented with a set of questionnaire to understand the facilities accessible to them.
An app has been developed to which only cricketers, coaches and other support staff have access to. Players can log in through it to participate in various online training and interactive sessions. Daily interactions are being held to keep track of their process.
The various coaches (batting, bowling, fielding) are conducting their own sessions. Indian team physiotherapist Nitin Patel and trainer Nick Webb are also organising sessions through the app.
Stage 2: Once some restrictions are lifted, depending on how much movement is allowed in various states, players will be taken to local stadiums and skill-wise training sessions will get underway. The programmes for this have already been prepared.
Stage 3: When normality resumes, plans are being put into place to allow for the safe movement of players between states to specific centres for skill-based training.
Stage 4: Once the action gets underway, BCCI wants each player to be mentally and physically ready.
Among the top India players, only Mohammed Shami, who owns a full-sized cricket ground in his native Sahaspur village in Uttar Pradesh, is able to practice drills. Others are mostly confined to cramped metro cities, therefore, they can only use the gym.
