Cricketers to lose ‘muscle memory’ for having so long from outdoor practice: Experts
Image : Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Local coaches and experts have expressed fears that the cricketers will lose muscle memory after being stayed so long from outdoor practice.
They said that whatever practices they have been doing at home to keep them fit will not be enough to keep their muscle memory in proper shape.
The players’ fitness in Bangladesh cricket always remains a key issue when they play international matches as they are not as naturally gifted as other country cricketers in terms of muscle power with batting, bowling or fielding either.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced Bangladesh cricketers to do indoor practice for the last four months after which some of the cricketers wanted to start individual training and sought approval from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
Initially, the BCB wanted to allow players to hold their practice individually and that they are making their arrangement to this end but the escalating situation of the coronavirus in the country has forced them to backtrack from their decision.
Mohammad Salahuddin and Nazmul Abedeen Fahim are the most popular coaches in Bangladesh cricket. They frequently work as a personal mentor to a lot of current cricketers in the national team and out of the national team.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has launched a new app, named COVID-19 well-being app for the cricketers to monitor their day to day activities but Mohammad Salahuddin feels that the cricketers need to practice outdoor to keep their muscle memory in shape unless it will be very much tough for them to prepare themselves within the shortest possible time when they will come back to cricket after the protracted break of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The crickets are suffering as they are out of the game for a long lull. No matter how much shadow or whatever you do at home! There is also a term, named ‘muscle memory in cricket’. The work that you are used to using your muscles, it has not been for a long time,” said Mohammad Salahuddin.
But Nazmul Abedeen Fahim said that he thinks it’s more worried about the fitness of fast bowlers than the batsmen’s fitness in general.
“The physical hard work that fast bowlers have to go through while they are bowling has not been done for the last four months. No matter how much fitness they do at home, the load that fast bowlers have to go through and the pressure they usually feel in bowling is generally missing with them, for the last four months. They are generally missing losing that power. This is the biggest loss for the fast bowlers,” Fahim said.
“The batsman is also losing some power in facing pace bowling then saw the ball and reacted to it. The eye muscle they use in seeing this ball is not utilised in this month; this muscle is getting ineffective in these months. The batsman will take time in solving this problem,” Fahim concluded.
