In the last 24 months, there has been a flash flood of injuries in the Indian cricket team. From fast bowlers to specialist batters to all-rounders, ill-timed breakdowns have affected team combinations ahead of crucial fixtures, and even multi-nation tournaments like the World Cup and Asia Cup.
Very few players are now playing all three formats consistently and frequent rests between series/tournaments have become common. Why the constant breakdowns? Is there actually a need for workload management? Former India Strength and Conditioning Coach Ramji Srinivasan in an exclusive conversation with News18 Cricketnext throws light on current injury concerns, workload management and more.
“See there are lot of factors involving why injuries happen. Four main factors which we need to address in a holistic way are biological, physical, psychological and socio-cultural. Lot of pointers come under these four parameters. Coming to back injuries, there are many facets to it. When did these injuries start to happen? The mass scale ones involving fast bowlers, or a wicketkeeper or a spin bowler. We need to ask where did it start and why did it start. What triggered this tsunami of injuries is what we need to ask. Basically the source of the injury. How come everyone is becoming injured, which never used to happen before,” says Ramji, who served as Strength and Conditioning Coach of Team India during the 2011 World Cup.
‘Individuals are different’
Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya’s injuries hurt India the most in the last 12-18 months. While Hardik is back to full fitness and has been on a dream run since the 2022 edition of the IPL, Bumrah was drafted in the ODI squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. The seamer missed the 2022 T20 World Cup and is now back in the set-up ahead of crucial two years of the Indian cricket team which feature two World Cups and the all-important home Tests vs Australia. In Ramji’s opinion, every individual is different and they need to address their bodies/fitness differently. One template can’t apply to all players and individualisation is key.
“As I said, individuals are different. You can’t have one template for all the players. Every player needs a different template. If you are going to follow the same template, they will break down in the warm-up match itself. That’s why communication is very important. Athlete knowing their body is very important. That’s why programs, right from practice sessions, need to be individualised. You can’t generalise. Times have changed you can’t apply the same principles which you applied 10-15 years back. Lifestyles have changed, mindsets have changed. Lot of things have changed because of lifestyle modifications. You have to adapt and adopt protocols according to need of the hour,” says Ramji.
There are only handful of players who have featured in all three formats, and the IPL, in last 24 months. Breakdowns have become a common sight in between series and forced rotation has come into play to keep the first-choice players fresh and injury free for major fixtures and tournaments. The BCCI, during its January 1 review meet, also touched upon the workload management issue. For Ramji, more than workload management, it’s important to understand the parameters included in the same.
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“What we also need to decipher is the fancy word called workload management. What do you mean by workload management? We need to understand the parameters included in the workload management. These four parameters need to be included in workload management. If you miss out even one, you are not going to get the correct data. You make a nice presentable dish and forget to put salt in it, everything goes for a toss. Workload management must comprise of all these four metrics. Once you get those four metrics and then what you infer from the data, and then are you individualising every player’s needs according to his/her skills or the format at which they are going to be peaking at the right time at the right place,” says Ramji.
Workload management
Having worked with a pool of players who played almost everything – all three formats and the IPL and travelled for around 300 days a year – Ramji feels playing all three formats is very much doable provided an individual understands his body and has a workout, recovery and nutrition program in sync with that. He lauds the facilities put in place by the Indian cricket board and feels it’s up to the current S&C team to make most of it for betterment of Indian cricket team.
“It is very much doable. What has changed now is the mindset has changed. A lot of things have also changed for the positive now. That time we never had so many support staff. We had a physio, a trainer, one massage therapist and two coaches. So no more than 6-7. Now we have 20 people. And there are fantastic facilities wherever you go. There are lot of pros than cons. BCCI will give you the best of the best. When you ask for the best, they give you the best. They don’t cringe on anything. Nobody can blame BCCI for anything. They want the players to get best of the best. It’s how the support staff uses that for the benefit of the players and the country is of utmost importance.
All players played all three formats then. Except Sachin who didn’t play T20s. But rest played IPL, ODIs, T20Is and also the Tests and also travelled 300 days a year. There is a missing link which we now need to find because all those players back in 2011 were in 30s during the World Cup and we can be very proud of the fact that none of the players got injuries because of fitness. It’s important to keep it simple and never complicate with too many jargons or information. DEXA and yo-yo are just a tool and there are many missing links which we need to find to address this tsunami of injuries,” says Ramji.
Communication is key
The decorated coach feels fitness can’t be one-way traffic and there has to be constant communication between players and fitness coaches. He recalls his time with the Indian cricket team when players, from Sachin to Gambhir to Sehwag, used to “grill” him on fitness and kept asking him questions around every session. Fitness has to be individualised but Ramji says synergy has to be there and everyone in the team must focus on the bigger picture.
“Not ask me, they used to grill me because everyone wants to play for the country and it’s my duty to explain what everyday goals are. It started when I joined in 2009. From Virat Kohli to Suresh Raina everybody used to grill me. From Sachin to Gauti to Dhoni to Viru, everybody. It’s my duty to explain to them and if I don’t know, I don’t know. We need to understand that cricket is a team game, not individual game. So synergy has to be there and mindset has to be common at least. It’s not going to be one player I am going to make fit. Synergy has to be among all players so that they embark on the journey and one compliments the other. So that is true fitness for a team,” says Ramji.
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