Is Team India's frenetic pace wearing players out?

When Virat Kohli took over as the Indian cricket team’s captain in all three formats in 2017, his primary goal was ‘to take the team to a higher pedastal’ and to realise that ambition he understood the importance of players’ fitness.

He led from the front by not only scoring a truckload of runs as India began to dominate world cricket but showed his men the way forward by doing workouts seldom seen from an Indian cricketer. Lifting weights, doing exercises that seemed more appropriate for a combat fighter, sharing motivational quotes on social media while performing those demanding routines, changing diet... Kohli did everything possible to push the envelope.

Such was his emphasis on fitness that passing the yo-yo test was made mandatory to be a squad member. Even his go-to pacer Mohammed Shami was not picked once for failing the test.

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Ambati Rayudu, Washington Sundar, Suresh Raina, Varun Chakravarthy are some of the others who felt the brunt of failing the prescribed fitness test.

Some former players slammed the relevance of the yo-yo test for cricketers, especially batters, but for Kohli it was a no-bargain.

Eventually, players bought into it and the impact is so deep, even state cricketers take great pride in fitness. Muscles and six-packs are as important as runs or wickets. Take a look at social media posts of cricketers and you’ll know the importance they attach to fitness.

While Kohli’s uncompromising stance on fitness has vastly improved the athletic ability of the Indian team, have they become more injury prone in the process?

The huge number of players who have been injured over the last five years and the list of cricketers who’ve had recurring (non-cricketing) injuries, paint a very different picture.

Kohli (back spasm), Rohit Sharma (hamstring), Mohammed Siraj (hamstring), Ishant Sharma (abdomen), Shami (knee), Hardik Pandya (back), Hanuma Vihari (hamstring), Jasprit Bumrah (abdomen), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (hamstring, back strain), Umesh Yadav (calf), K L Rahul (wrist), R Ashwin (back spasm), Wriddhiman Saha (tendonitis)... the list can go on.

The National Cricket Academy, which originally was supposed to be finishing school for cricketers, ended up being a rehabilitation centre.

So it begs the question as to why do players break down so frequently? Is it too much cricket given that Indians play almost throughout the year? Are they over-training? Are they lifting too many weights which is making their muscles hard, thereby reducing the elasticity?

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“It’s a combination of all the factors,” Ramji Srinivasan, who served as the Strength and Conditioning (S&C) coach of the Indian team during the 2011 World Cup triumph, tells DH.

“When I see the videos of some of the cricketers today, it baffles me. Yes, weights are important. It does strengthen your body but overdoing it can be detrimental too. The role of fitness is to prevent injuries, prolong careers and improve performance. These three things need to be in sync. Here the converse is happening. Of course, players now are far more athletic as compared to their contemporaries but then the number of injuries have also risen exponentially. So, something wrong is going on and looks like no one is taking responsibility.”

Personalised workout

Srinivasan believes it could be because players blindly follow workouts without questioning its purpose. The one-size-fits-all approach is perhaps one of the main reasons why players suffer non-cricketing injuries.

“What works for one player may not work for another,” Srinivasan emphasises. “Also, the routine for a batsman is different to that of a bowler. Players need to question the S&C coaches for every exercise. S&C coaches also need to spend a lot of time with physios in understanding the body types of players. The coaching staff also must be told about the exercises a player can and cannot do. Body management is as essential as workload management. This is where S&Cs and physios play a crucial role. If all three are not in sync, then injuries will keep recurring.”

Dr Madan Mohan Reddy, a top orthopedist with specialisation in sports medicine, attributes the frequent breakdowns to excessive cricket. “Most of these cricketers train under experts, so they know what they are doing. I feel the constant breakdowns and recurring injuries is because of too much cricket. More than over-training, it’s excessive cricket that’s the root cause of all the problems. When you overdo anything for a longer period of time, breakdown is inevitable. The human body is like a machine, it needs rest, recovery and service.”

Reddy’s observation was concurred by Kohli. “The situation is we do play a lot of cricket and there’s no denying that. My case, for example, as much as I take pride in being absolutely fit at all times, you do take a lot of things for granted as well. I’ve been playing three formats and the IPL regularly for the last 10 years. It’s taken for granted that I will feature in more or less every game India plays. That’s not how sport works unfortunately. There has to be a right balance between quantity and the intensity which you play with.”

Excess cricket

India, the most sought after team, have been playing almost non-stop for nearly two years — Starting from the delayed IPL in October 2020, they have played in Australia (November 2020 to January 2021), India (vs England, February to March), IPL (April, suspended), England (June-August), UAE (September-November, IPL and T20 World Cup), India (vs New Zealand, November to December) and South Africa (December to January, ongoing).

A strength and conditioning coach, who was involved with the Indian team but chose to speak on condition of anonymity, felt very little has been done towards player health. “We’ve been hearing this ‘too much cricket’ stuff for more than a decade now. But the calendar is only being stretched and not reduced. Add the two-month window IPL takes, it’s punishing. This is where the Board and the coaching staff need to have a detailed discussion at the start of the season.

Literally all top leagues in the world have an on and off season. Since there’s no off-season for Indian cricketers, the Board and coaching staff should figure out at the beginning of the season itself, how they are going to rotate the players. Have a draft plan and work around it.”

Can it be done? Certainly. Will it be? Very unlikely.