Efficacy of Training in Cricket

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EFFICACY OF TRAINING IN CRICKET

Cricket is a power-endurance sport played for many hours at a stretch, often on consecutive days in the longer version. Many matches are won in the last minutes of the game by the fitter side. It is all very well to refine skills, but a player will not perform to his true potential unless fit.

Gone are the days when it was presumed that playing lot of cricket renders players more powerful or less prone to injury. Research has proven that to get best out of cricketers’ abilities they ought to maintain a progressive training plan.

Lack of proper fitness makes it increasingly difficult for young cricketers to develop their all-round athletic skills required to succeed. Reasons may be manifold, ranging from climatic conditions to availability of fitness centers or want of indoor facilities or individual player’s choice to skip such sessions.

In the IPL edition 2014, we have watched players leaping in and out of the boundary lines to convert maximum hits into wickets and upset the equation of opponents. Chris Lynn’s game changing catch, or for that matter a catch by Pollard and even Mitchell Starc’s blinder in the deep have raised the bar in fielding. These were not only about catching skills but strength, agility, flexibility and power, too. This is where proper planning and fitness figure in. Not the 'run-into-the-ground' type of fitness, but the type that stops injury by strengthening muscles and ligaments, which improves functional power and makes players run faster.

The need is to have serious attitude and train efficiently, without fail, for more experience with less athletic prowess may increase our chances of injury. To increase our body efficiency system during the entire season, irrespec...

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.... Proper Nutrition:

The main secret to training effectively over long seasons is to get nutrition up to the scratch. A motor car will not run without fuel and will develop snags on adulterated fuel. A well balanced diet is essential for maintaining the optimum levels of physical fitness. It will not only make one healthier, but will give energy and also help in fast recovery.

Follow “Precision Nutrition System,” especially when it comes to getting in the right amount of good carbohydrates from beans, rice, potatoes, fruits and vegetables immediately after the training to aid recovery, along with regular intake of proteins to repair muscles and tissue damage. Fluid intake should also be increased to maximize the hydration.

With inputs from N.C.A

Author is a former First-class cricketer and BCCI qualified coach. Feedback at (mubashirjkca@gmail.com).

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