Literally all the players, like the little master, are trying to raise their fitness levels ahead of a long cricket season this winter. First, New Zealand comes to India for a Test tour, followed by a triangular one-day series between India, NZ and Australia, and then off on the toughest challenge of life—to Australia. But this camp is unlike any other that Indian teams have gone through in the past, focusing as it does on the body, the mind and the spirit in equal measure, and involving experts from diverse disciplines, from sports to the media.
Fitness, of course, is the buzzword at the camp (it has been split into two sessions—one for a fortnight and the other for a week, with a five-day break) with a strenuous schedule that has forced the cricketers to lead an unusually quiet life after dusk. Surprisingly, they have not even taken to the umpteen swish watering holes, not even to endorse products. So much so that one of them was heard whining, "bistar pe hil nahin sakthe (can’t move our bodies on the bed)". A few others, though, have been rushing off at the end of the day to join their spouses.
With coach John Wright keeping them company, the regimen for fitness includes an hour-long session of yoga (7 am every morning), balle balle aerobics (exercises set to music, a favourite of Harbhajan Singh), a modified version of rugby (with the cherry), pumping weights, and a set of stretch-and-pull workouts. Later, they are also put through the paces in fielding and at the nets. Though most of them sing praises about the yoga sessions, the discomfiture on the carpet is evident. Wright too finds it tough to twist and turn while even the athletic Yuvraj Singh seemed out of breath at the end of an hour-long session.
The yoga sessions (complete with breathing exercises for relaxation) have had such a profound impact on Wright that he suggests interviews with Dr S.N. Omkar, an aerospace scientist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. "But keep out of our way and click your pictures from the back of the room," he says. The other yoga buff was Sachin who spent an extra 30 minutes picking up some basic postures throughout the 13-day session.
According to Dr Omkar, "For cricketers, certain postures help in achieving core stability of the body and enhance performance. The breathing techniques help to maintain emotional balance required in competitive games. Some relaxation techniques are also being taught."
Yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar too flew in from Pune, and held forth on how the postures would keep the cricketers fit through a tough day on the field. There were other specialists too—Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar who handed out tips and fine-tuned the players’ game. The other experts—albeit from other sports and media (Prakash Padukone, Geet Sethi and Dr Prannoy Roy)—were called in to talk on endurance, sporting spirit and how to stay cool when uncomfortable questions are shot at them. Apparently, Dr Roy told them about the advantages of keeping a media-friendly policy (like how David Beckham and Leander Paes do) and not to rant about media criticism.
Meanwhile, at the nets the players were treated to some fiery pace bowling by a battery of nine young men, who’ve all been under the tutelage of Dennis Lillee at the mrf Pace Foundation, Chennai. The spotlight, of course, has been on Munaf Patel of Gujarat who’s said to have generated speeds of up to 150 kmph. Standing at 6’4", Munaf seems modest, celeb status yet to catch up with him. "Aap mujhe ek copy de dejiye (please give me a copy of the magazine)," he says at the end of a chat. Quiz him about the match where he knocked out two batsmen, he smiles, saying, "That was against Saurashtra in the Under-25 tournament." He has been working to get into the team, with support from Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan. Wright has been advising him to pitch the ball up. A disappointing fact: three days into the camp, he was yet to bowl at Sachin and Saurav Ganguly. "I bowled to Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Mohammed Kaif. I might bowl to them tomorrow," said a hopeful Munaf.
For the first time too, a media policy was in place with Wright picking one cricketer to meet the press every day. The interactions have thrown up some quotes from the likes of Kumble, Dravid and Sehwag. But, the little master, who everyone’s hankering after, smiles and remains elusive courtesy the controversy over his Ferrari car. Said Kumble: "People look at spinners in terms of one-day cricket and carry that opinion to Test matches...which is unfair." Hunting partner Harbhajan Singh seems to have the Aussies in his sights: "If we can carry forward the workouts through the season, it will be of great help while facing an opposition fitter than us."
Two men extremely pleased with the results are Wright and physiotherapist Andrew Leipus. Wright said, "It’s been a very good camp. We have seen a definite rise in the training attitude and standards. (King, the trainer) has done a tremendous job. He’s fitted in well."
Leipus said the post-surgery recovery of Harbhajan, Virender Sehwag and Ashish Nehra was coming on well. "Ashish came after a surgery and we have been monitoring his progress. Veeru has been told to rest for six weeks, which should be till the end of September." It looks like Saurav’s boys are ready for crunch time.
