Fitness drills and techniques of the Indian cricket team

Ever since the Indian captain MS Dhoni brought the fitness factor to the light, the Indian cricket team has highly advanced their fitness regime. Dhoni realized that just batting and bowling doesn’t win you matches. Every player has to be fit and be able to maintain his stamina throughout the match. You should do your part in bowling and batting and still be able to run like a Cheetah in the field during Feilding. If you become stiff and tired, you can drop catches and eventually lose matches. Here is the fitness routine Indian cricket team follows –

• Warm-up – First and foremost warming up your body is mandatory. Run at least 5 rounds around the ground to free yourself. Perform normal stretching exercises.
• Back foot drill – As a batsman, it is crucial that you become overly habitual to playing at backfoot. Make sure your leg is parallel to the crease when you step back and the elbow remains high.
• Run-up – Be it practice or real match, maintaining a proper run-up is key to bowling efficiently. Practice it every day to find the most suitable run-up for every kind of delivery. Try variations in running speed to develop accuracy.
• Back exercises – It is not always about use hands to hit a hard six or bowl a yorker. It is not always running fast using legs. Fast bowlers tend to have back injuries more often. It’s the vigorously bowling action and the runup that causes trouble. Don’t lift any heavyweights in the gym without expert supervision. Batting for a long time also requires bending for a long time.
• Football – We have often seen players playing football for fun before a match. It keeps your nervousness away and loosens up. Your body remains warm plus a little fun is good for focusing better during the match.

The extremities of Indian cricketers’ workout can be clearly seen through drastic change Virat Kohli bright in himself. He changed his diet to vegan and focused solely on maintaining his body fitness. The results of this fitness can be witnessed in his performance in every match. After all his nickname is ‘Run Machine’!