Not expecting any cricketing activity before July 15, opines Ashish Nehra

The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus began during the first week of March, and sports has taken a back step and shut shop since then, with almost the entirety of the world going into a lockdown. With the total number of Covid-19 cases across the world crossing the one million mark, any hope of normalcy being restored seems bleak, and former India pacer Ashish Nehra echoed the same sentiments. Nehra stated that he does not expect any sort of cricketing action before July 15 - which is three months away - even if the lockdown restrictions are lifted.

“Let’s consider a few situations. Even if the lockdown ends on April 15, it will take a lot of time for social life to become normal. If you ask me, I am not expecting any cricketing activity before July. So this is a long break but once action starts fast bowlers have the biggest challenge to remain fit,” Nehra told Sportstar.

With outdoor activities completely barred, cricketers have resorted to low-intensity indoor training, with teams alloting players specialized, individual-specific tasks. A former fast-bowling coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise, Nehra feels that the lockdown will significantly hinder the preparation of fast bowlers and attested that they will face an uphill task of remaining fit, due to the paucity of space that will be available for them to train.

“Lack of running time for fast bowlers is an issue. Now the situation is unavoidable. So whoever at least has a garden with say 15 metres or 20 metres space, they should do shuttle run thrice a week unless they are allowed to train at grounds.

“You can do as much of yoga or free weights, fast bowler’s life is nothing without good running time. There is a lot of difference with batsmen.”