The government has started the process of relaxing the lockdown guidelines which were put in place since March 25 in an effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic. And the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now looking at a August-September window to host camp for the cricketers with an eye to get them back in the zone.
Speaking to IANS, a BCCI official said that the board was looking at bringing the players together only after the monsoon to help them get back into the grind and prepare them to get back to cricketing action after spending quite some time indoors.
"Looking at getting ready for once monsoon ends. Should be around the August-September window that we will get the players together and work on their game and get them back into the zone. You have to understand that there is a muscle memory that needs tuning and these guys are all professionals. So, it will be more about the mental aspect than the physical aspect as they have already been working on their fitness even during lockdown," the official pointed.
Asked if the National Cricket Academy (NCA) would be the venue, the official said: "Too early to say that. Let inter-state movement get further relaxed, let's see how things stand in a month or so and then we can decide on whether the camp will be at the NCA or somewhere else."
Earlier, both Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill had told IANS that they will need some time to fine-tune their game and work on the mental aspect by doing the hard yards at training post normalcy.
"We will need a few net sessions for sure to get the timing back (as a batsman) and also to get the muscle memory working. Will be holding the bat after a while also to have players standing around as you face bowlers bowling at 140kph, it will not be easy to come back into that zone and it will need a few training sessions as also the mental memory to settle down completely," said Iyer.
"It is not going to be easy, but at the same time we are professionals and we have played for so many years to reach this stage, so it will not take us very long. It will be a good challenge for us to overcome and get started with cricket," he explained.
Gill said that the cricketing rhythm has broken due to the enforced break amid COVID-19 pandemic. "Yes, it kind of broke the whole rhythm but it's going to be the same for everyone. Once cricket returns, we have to put twice as much time to get back to the whole rhythm. To get back the touch, it's going to take some time.
"We have to put in some quality time on the field, especially during the practice sessions and net sessions. Once that happens for me it's always more of a mental thing than a physical thing because I think the body reacts to the brain and reacts to the way we are thinking," he said.
