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.
Valthaty’s hundred against Chennai Super Kings would be somewhat of a fairytale, considering his only worthwhile performance in top-level cricket was a streaky 44 in a warm-up one-day game for a Mumbai Cricket Association XI (made up of reserves) against the touring England team at the Brabourne Stadium. Today was the stage he had waited for, having failed to break into Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy team and having played a solitary one-dayer for them in February 2006.
In Mumbai circles, Valthaty is a T20 legend, known from his early days for his ability to thump the ball as hard as anyone else, so much so that he’s made the format his own, both in the club and domestic circles for Mumbai.
Abhishek Nayar, his close friend and team-mate from Mumbai and Kings XI Punjab told Yahoo! Cricket, “Paul is pretty much a T20 specialist in Mumbai, and his track record in the past two-three years in almost every tournament in that format tells you that he’s done extremely well. Even in the Mumbai Cricket Association T20 Championship in 2009/10 (where Valthaty represented Payyade Sports Club), he was adjudged the player of the tournament.
Nayar added, “It was really heartening to see him do well, given the fact that he’s seen almost all his peers make it big for Mumbai in all formats. And even as Valthaty was the quintessential journeyman in the IPL circuit if you like, having previously represented the Mumbai and Rajasthan franchises respectively, it was on Nayar’s recommendation that the Kings XI Punjab decided to rope in Valthaty.
After I got picked by Kings XI Punjab, I had a talk with the franchise about giving Paul an opportunity to play for them, and since the past two months, he’s been training really hard and the result is here to see. I am very happy for what he achieved today, Nayar said.
Cricket, then took over and impressive show in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (national U-16s) for two consecutive seasons, with a follow up in the Cooch Behar Trophy (national U-19s) for Mumbai, earned him with an junior India cap, whom he represented in the Under-19 World Cup of 2002 in New Zealand, with the added distinction of being the only Mumbai cricketer to make that squad.
Sadly, fate had something else in store for the young lad. Opening the batting for India in a game against Bangladesh U-19s, Valthaty was batting on 5, when he was hit on the face (right eye to be precise) by a bouncer from pacer Shafaq Al Zabir and subsequently taken to the hospital and that’s when his progress was halted, and delayed.
Unfortunately, as some argue, Valthaty might have been a Mumbai cricketer born at a wrong time, given that he’s unlikely to break into the first Ranji XI anytime soon — given the strength and class of that batting order, and a faint recognition that First Class cricket might never quite be his cup of tea.
But what today’s performance at Mohali has underlined is the very the essence of anonymous talent Indian cricketers, a somewhat romantic notion that all it needs is a platform, a stage to display what we might have never seen or heard before. Go ask that boy, Paul Valthaty.
Pepsi’s path-breaking Cricket World Cup 2011 campaign
Pepsi is one of the global sponsors for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the body paint campaign is an attempt to bring alive the passion that these cricketers have for their game.
The new body painted look is youthful, fresh and symbolic of the individual player’s passion for the game.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni – Fire in the belly
Harbhajan Singh – Fiery Ball
Virender Sehwag – Moving Star
