'A Balanced Fitness Routine Will Prevent Injuries': Sreesanth's Advise to Jasprit Bumrah | Exclusive

The next three months could become era-defining for the current Indian cricket team. It will be taking part in a host of big-ticket events including Asia Cup, Asian Games and the biggest of them all – the ODI World Cup. Success in these events, especially at the world cup, will go a long way in healing the scars that some of the more accomplished and experienced India players must be carrying over their repeated failures while attempting to bring home an ICC title in the decade gone by.

The build-up to these events hasn’t been a smooth ride though. The team has been struggling with (continues to) injuries to several of their frontline stars. Jasprit Bumrah has been one of their prime stars who has missed plenty of cricket that coincided with major tournaments including Asia Cup and T20 World Cup in 2022 and the final of the World Test Championship earlier this year. While failure to win a certain event cannot be pinpointed on the absence of an individual, Indian team will be mentally in a healthier spot with Bumrah’s successful return after a layoff that lasted nearly 11 months.

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While he has been impressive on return, showing no signs of rust but the spectre, however minor or insignificant, of when Bumrah pulls up with another fitness concern will continue to hover over arguably one of the finest fast bowlers India has produced in recent times.

Bumrah is an all-format players for India, someone who is also in their leadership circle. It’s obvious, he will be representing the team across formats, regularly (with breaks in between to manage workload).

But how long will his body, which will turn 30 this December, handle the rigours of a packed international calender (and then there’s two months of IPL too)?

It seems that the injury-forced break did inspire Bumrah to rework on his bowling action, adding a couple of strides in his run up and lengthening his follow through so as to lessen the stress on his back.

Sreesanth, the former India fast bowler, knows how injuries can derail a career no matter how much talent one is in possession of. Before the IPL spot-fixing scandal ended his international career for good, the Kerala history-maker’s progress had already been halted at the level due to fitness and form concerns.

So how can Bumrah without compromising on his pace and venom can perform at the level he was doing before the unwanted break and also remain injury free?

“Bumrah has been an excellent bowler. He’s been world number one and he knows exactly what to do,” Sreesanth told News 18 CricketNext in an exclusive conversation. “I will just say, yes, that (bowling) action is awkward, but that is what is getting (him) wickets. It’s just a matter of getting stronger every single day, lot of flexibility (exercise), rather than just the strength. You have to have a balanced fitness routine rather than just going hard at the gym, it should be balanced. I’m sure he’s got the best of the physio, the best of doctors and nutritionists around and it’s just a matter of time (he will be back at his best). I wish him all the best because injuries are part and parcel of a fast bowler’s life especially when you’re playing in subcontinent conditions.”

Aside from the physical aspect, Sreesanth thinks Bumrah will also have to work on his mental strength with respect to worrying about injuries.

“…it’s a matter of belief system, the mindset. Don’t worry about the injuries, but make sure you prevent them by doing a balanced routine. And I’m sure Bumrah, being the world-class bowler he is and he will always be, we all should just back him up and be there for him, whatever it is, be with him mentally and spiritually. I’m sure physically he will just get better every single day,” said Sreesanth.

There has been a lot of chatter around the workload of cricketers these days. With the non-stop cricket all year around, the BCCI has taken a conscious step towards ensuring its players are well-rested.

Sreesanth thinks players nowadays are quite smart when choosing tournaments.

“It all depends on the individual. This generation is so smart enough to decide what they should play,” said the 40-year-old who is currently taking part in the US Masters T10 League, representing Morisville Unity.

The current phase of Indian cricket is has also produced its golden generation of fast bowling. They have plenty of world-class fast bowlers in their ranks but the absence of a quality left-arm pace sticks out like a sore thumb.

India have quite often been at the wrong end of the storm an on-song left-arm pacer can unleash.

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In young Arshdeep Singh they see a hope for the future and so does Sreesanth.

“I was just going through the social sites and saw this beautiful, one of the best balls, bowled by Arshdeep while he was playing county cricket,” Sreesanth responded when asked why India lack a quality left-arm pacer.

He continued, “I will not advise but request every fast bowler to just play as many matches as possible. You will keep improving. It doesn’t matter left or right. Yes, left is a big plus point if you can bring the ball back in to a right-hander and take it away. You keep improving as your experience gets better by playing more matches.”

Sreesanth feels that Arshdeep is taking the right steps by playing in different tournaments and thinks youngsters these days aren’t playing enough cricket.

“I am sure not just Zaheer (Khan) bhai who used to play every game – even he’s from the MRF Foundation – but RP Singh (also) and a lot of players (from the foundation) played a lot of cricket. Nowadays, the youngsters don’t play much cricket,” he said.

“Arshdeep is doing that by going to county, going to different formats and playing that. It will be wise enough if the youngsters play as many matches as possible, then just doing the warm-up in the nets and just playing any other match. I’m sure there will be many, many left-arm fast bowlers for the country very soon,” he added.