They play non-stop cricket throughout the year. Ever wondered how much of physical effort is required to be on the field for almost 200 days an year?
Yeah that roughly comes out to about spending 4800 tough hours in the field every year. You can’t do all that if you aren’t physically and mentally balanced. What one does in the field is one thing, but what one does outside it, decides the amount of cricket one can play. To sum it up all, if players didn’t workout and controlled their diet, they won’t play for as many years as they do. Here is what few of the star performers of team India have to say about fitness and health.
He starts his day at 6 am with a metabolic run followed by a meditation session of about 30 minutes and during match days; he does a bit of shadow practice too. “It’s important to stay and look fit to be able to play for the country”, says Rahul.
Dravid takes time out of his busy schedule and makes it a point to hit the gym at least thrice a week. His fitness regime in the gym comprises of a lot of cardio and light weight. “As a player, you have to be flexible and quick. If you overbuild the muscles you lose some of your flexibility. Therefore, I don’t do heavy weights” adds Rahul. His basic idea of fitness is to do a lot of aerobic exercises and yoga to remain physically as well as mentally fit. He is extra careful about what he eats and how many calories he takes. He prefers sports nutrition food packets.
His skill set on the field is well known, but not many people know the hard work that he puts in while being off field. Like Rahul, even Yuvraj doesn’t do heavy weights as his idea of fitness is not to build muscles, but to maintain a toned body. For that, he works out in the gym for about 3-4 a week, with his main focus on the cardio exercises.
"My hard work off the field keeps me physically fit on the field. At this level only the fittest survive, and I keep reminding myself with this fact" says Yuvraj.