Workload management has become a key thing for any cricketer in this cricket era. With the number of matches rising with a fully packed and busy cricketing schedule, a player needs to look after his body as well. Not only back-to-back international series, but the league matches are also not leaving a gap to breathe.
The fatigue can cause serious harm to a cricketer, especially fast bowlers and hence, Indian team management is not going to ignore the workload of their stalwarts.
Recently, India rested their star pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar against West Indies for two-match Test series. But the negative side of taking breaks can affect the rhythm. Talking to Sportstar, Bumrah explained how he deals with it.
“A break is always refreshing. The flipside is you need match practice as well. I try to replicate a match situation in the practice sessions. Such sessions will always hold you in good stead,” he said. “When you get a break, you try and focus on things you are not able to focus on while traveling. You also need to emphasize on things that you want to try and improve or introduce. For all that, match-like practice will help you all the time.”
Bhuvneshwar revealed how BCCI makes sure staying away from cricket doesn't affect their game. “When you are given rest, it means you need a break from matches because the workload for practice and that for a match are very different. During the break, the BCCI ensures we keep training either at the NCA or the trainers and physios send us a programme that we have to work on at home,” he said.
“It includes details about how much you work out in the gym, how much you train, and how much you bowl. We stress on continuing to practice because once you lose rhythm, at times you end up using two-three matches or a series to get it back. The programme has been well-planned keeping all these things in mind.”
Practicing a delivery is a different thing and executing it currently in matches is different. Both the Indian pacers have succeeded in bowling yorkers right in the game.
Bumrah, in particular, has been very impressed with his length in death overs. Talking about the hard work behind it, he said, “Sometimes it looks easy but it's not. There's a lot of hard work gone behind executing it in a match. I always believe in preparations; if you prepare well it becomes easier to execute it in a match."
(With Sportstar Live's input)
