A Look at IPL All-rounders | Fitness Masterclass with Chinmoy Roy

Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee – all contemporaries, all legendary allrounders of the same era back in 80’s.

In those days cricketers didn’t have the luxury of accessing strength and conditioning that the modern era enjoys which leads to peak performance. Those legends performed on their natural abilities. At the start of the new millennium there were two formats. After 2007 came the third format. Advent of three formats transformed the very physical demands of the sport.

The demands are even more for an allrounder since he has to contribute in batting, bowing and fielding. Chris Cairns and Andrew Flintoff were classical allrounders who had injury issues while Shaun Pollock was more of a bowler who could bat a bit but was fitter and had a longer career. Jacque Kallis, inarguably the best allrounder of the 21st century was an epitome of fitness.

Nineteen years of international cricket – 13,289 runs and 292 wickets in 166 tests. Then 11,589 runs and 273 wickets in 328 ODIs. This phenomenal stat would not have been possible without great fitness. It was fitness for durability if not blasting it away. One thing is for sure - that the allrounders of current generation will have lesser career span, courtesy too many matches. So we may not see another Jacque Kallis.

At the present point in time there are three quality international allrounders playing for three different countries. All of them are successful in all the three formats. Supremely fit, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja and Shakib-al Hassan can win matches with their all round ability. Each of them has set a bench mark on fitness. Be it running between the wickets or pulling off a blinder their physical prowess is discernible in every movement. While Stokes got injured, the other two were performing in the just postponed IPL.

This episode deals with the successful allrounders of the now postponed IPL. Ravindra Jadeja, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russel and Moin Ali figured in my list by dint of their performance. I marked them on power and speed-agility. I have suggested two drills for developing power and speed-agility.

Drill-1

Hurdle Jump

Drill set up

• Take three adjustable hurdles. Set their height at 2 feet.
• Keep each hurdle at 3 metres distance from one another.
• The starting and ending point is 3 metres from the hurdles.

Reps/Sets

• After 3 back-to-back jumps rest for 3-4 minutes X 5 sets

Drill-2

Medicine ball sideways and chest pass

Drill set up

• Place two cones at 6 metres apart.
• Take a partner and a medicine ball of 3-4 kgs in weight.

Reps/Sets

• 6 each side i.e. 12 times. Rest 45 seconds and do 3 sets.