Team India endured a disappointing campaign in the 2022 Asia Cup, where the side was knocked out in the Super 4 stage. The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team faced defeats to Pakistan and Sri Lanka to bow out of the tournament but ended the campaign on a high with a 101-run win against Afghanistan. Even in a poor Asia Cup 2022 outing, the side went home with a major positive in Virat Kohli‘s return to run-scoring, as the Indian batter scored 276 runs in five innings at a brilliant strike rate of 147; he also broke his century drought, smashing an unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan.
However, India also endured another injury setback with Ravindra Jadeja facing a knee injury ahead of the start of the Super 4 matches. Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were already missing the tournament due to injuries.
Team India has faced significant troubled with injuries this year, with star batter KL Rahul and bowler Deepak Chahar missing over six months of international action as well. Former India opener Virender Sehwag spoke in detail about the same, and noticed a pattern in the majority of injury absences in the Indian team.
“India’s problems have been injuries that didn’t happen on the cricket field. No one is addressing that,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
“Hardik Pandya got injured while bowling. Most of the players are getting injured at the gym or outside the match. We didn’t see Jadeja getting injured on a cricket field. After the match, we came to know that he has an injury. That means the things that are happening outside or in the gym need to be addressed.
“Skills are important. Once you are in the Indian team and playing a series, gym is not as important as skills. If you have a two-month break, then fitness becomes important,” Sehwag said.
The explosive former India batter also gave an example of how Sachin Tendulkar used to prepare for a match to further explain his point. “I learnt this from Sachin Tendulkar. Whenever he came into the team, I never saw him lifting more than 6-8kg weights. I asked him, ‘what’s the point of lifting such low weights?’ He replied, ‘this is my maintenance. I’ve to play a match, I’m only doing this to keep my rhythm intact, so that I don’t lose my power’,” said Sehwag.
“You see the players these days, Virat Kohli and others posting videos of lifting 50-60-70kg weights during a series, which actually increases the chances of injury,” he further stated.
