India's bowling coach Bharat Arun said the team management thinks players will need a six to eight weeks long camp of rigorous training before they can step on the park again whenever the COVID-19 lockdown is over.
Players will have to reattain an optimum level of fitness before their bodies are ready to go through the grind and take the kind of workload international athletes are expected to endure.
"In the present circumstances (in isolation), all they needed was a programme that is well structured and that's where our trainer Nick Webb and physiotherapist have been doing an excellent job," Arun told TOI.
Giving a few details of the programme that the players have been asked to follow by Webb, the 57-year-old said: "the four elements that we've tried to put in place -- running, strength, yo-yo and endurance -- we'll be raising the bar in all those four areas. Whenever the boys are back on the field, these workloads will be way higher and tougher than before."
"If they have to match up to it, they'll have to constantly keep working on various aspects of fitness during isolation," he added.
The support staff wants Virat Kohli & company to be fully ready to resume with their on-field duties and hence, the six to eight weeks long training camp. "Whenever that happens, this (having enough space in the calendar for training) will be the priority before we can find ourselves ready for international cricket," Arun said.
When the restrictions are lifted, the time before the first match could also be used to simulate match-scenarios, play practice games and send a few of the individuals to participate in some form of domestic cricket. Every team around the world, Arun says, will look to do that before returning to the top-level game.
"Not every cricketer is lucky to have an open space right now," he stressed. "Some are locked in apartments, some with limited (gym) equipment, some are lucky to have more open spaces, and then there are some like Mohd Shami who have been relatively more fortunate."
Shami, who had moved to his farm just before the lockdown, has had the opportunity to run, swim, bowl and train. The fast bowler has regularly been in touch with Arun.
"He keeps sending me videos and I keep talking to him, motivating him. 'Tu bas aise hi practise karte reh. Tera ek, do saal aur career mein add ho jayega' (Just keep bowling/practising like this. You'll add a year or two to your career going forward)," Arun has been telling him.
Others, of course, aren't as lucky. "How long can you keep a racehorse locked up? The horse has to run because that's the only thing it knows," said Arun, explaining the plight of professional cricketers.
"The only solace is that cricketers or sportspersons are not the only ones going through this but it's the whole country."
"For a professional sportsperson, to be sitting at home doing nothing can be very frustrating. Not being able to expend that energy is like a curse. It can be boring, can be extremely monotonous. But there's no choice and therefore it's a challenge that has to be taken up," he added.
(Inputs from TOI)
