Hyderabad: Like all other sports, cricket has come to standstill as well due to Coronavirus pandemic. Schedule of the Indian cricket team has severely been affected due to the ongoing health crisis. Team India last played an international match against New Zealand on 29 February. On their arrival in India, Team was supposed to play South Africa at home. But the series had to be cancelled because of the highly contagious novel Coronavirus pandemic. This means Team India has neither played a match nor the players did outdoor practice and vice versa for over two and a half months.
So now the question is - will this situation not take a toll on players fitness and eventually on their performance? However, players are very serious about their fitness level and almost all the players opted for indoor practice, whether it is Rohit Sharma, captain Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya. They are locked in their respective residences but maintaining their fitness standard.
Bharat Arun, the bowling coach of Team India, said that a professional sportsperson is like a racehorse. "How long can you keep a racehorse locked up? The horse has to run because that's the only thing it knows. Our trainer Nick Webb of Team India has prepared a strategy for the players, who will work on running, strengthening, yo-yo, ENDURANCE once the cricket resumes".
The Indian team management decided that before an international series, the team will be trained for at least six weeks so that players can get back to the same rhythm from where they had stopped playing cricket.
