Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders’ spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who will be one of India’s major weapons in the 2019 World Cup, has accepted that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is taking a toll on the body, especially the late finishes. The chinaman bowler stressed that it is important to train smartly keeping in mind the quadrennial tournament that starts on May 30.
Almost all 8PM games are ending post midnight in this edition of the IPL.
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It is so taxing that Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni on Wednesday posted a photo on social media where he is sleeping on the floor of an airport in order to catch some sleep before they left for Rajasthan for their next game. “It becomes very hectic (when matches gets over so late). You need to recover very well as in this competition, you need to play two matches in three days also at times. Then there is travel also. So it does take a toll on the body,” Kuldeep said.
“You need to maintain yourself, eat well and sleep well. With the World Cup just after the IPL, training is very important and how you are going about it. It’s a bit hectic but the players are smart and know how to manage (workload),” the chinaman bowler said. Kuldeep will be key to India’s hopes of winning a third World Cup as the 24-year old has done exceedingly well in the 50-over format recently picking up 87 wickets in 44 matches so far.
BCCI monitoring players’ fitness
With the World Cup beginning less than two weeks after the end of the IPL, BCCI is trying to ensure players are not burnt out by the T20 league. Using mobile apps and wearables, they are monitoring the sleep duration to ensure they remain fresh for the showpiece event.
Indian players are wearing a ‘GPS catapult’, which measures the impact of training on individuals. The GPS ‘vest’ under the shirts mostly measures the following metrics through magnetometers — total distance covered, number and distance of high-speed runs and sprints, number of accelerations and decelerations, impacts and collisions, and heart-rate exertion. The numbers are then analysed for future course of action. They wear these vests whether they are training for India or for their IPL team.