BCCI focussing on August-September window to host outdoor training sessions for the players

Even as countries beginning to significantly relax the lockdown restraints, cricketers are striving to get back to their usual training regime and hit the ground running at the earliest. 

In a recent development, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now looking for the August-September window to resume the outdoor training sessions for the players. 

"Looking at getting ready for once the monsoon ends. Should be around the August-September window that we will get the players together and work on their game and get them back into the zone. You have to understand that there is a muscle memory that needs tuning and these guys are all professionals. So, it will be more about the mental aspect than the physical aspect as they have already been working on their fitness even during lockdown, " the official was quoted as saying by IANS. 

On being asked whether the National Cricket Academy (NCA) would be the precise venue for the camp, the BCCI official, reviewing the current travel implications, pointed out that it would be premature to decide the location right now. 

"Too early to say that. Let inter-state movement get further relaxed, let's see how things stand in a month or so and then we can decide on whether the camp will be at the NCA or somewhere else." - the official added. 

Player's Corner

In an interview with IANS, Shreyas Iyer made it crystal clear that players would need to focus extensively on the mental aspect of the game when they resume their full-length training sessions.

"We will need a few net sessions for sure to get the timing back (as a batsman) and also to get the muscle memory working. Will be holding the bat after a while also to have players standing around as you face bowlers bowling at 140kph, it will not be easy to come back into that zone and it will need a few training sessions as also the mental memory to settle down completely," Iyer said. 

However, Virat Kohli felt that the players will not find it exceedingly difficult to adhere to the new challenges that the pandemic would pose. 

"We all find it strange, with all things in life, it won't be that difficult to make a part of our lives," Kohli was quoted as saying during a live Instagram chat with Ravichandran Ashwin.

The 20-year-old batsman, Shubman Gill, claims that the forced break has interrupted the natural rhythm, and players will need to double their efforts to get things going as quickly as possible.

"Yes, it kind of broke the whole rhythm but it's going to be the same for everyone. Once cricket returns, we have to put twice as much time to get back to the whole rhythm. To get back the touch, it's going to take some time." Gill said. 

[With IANS inputs]