Bubble presents its own set of challenges: Leipus

Besides cautiously strapping Anil Kumble’s fractured jaw shut during the leg-spinner’s heroic display in the famous 2002 Test in Antigua, Andrew Leipus, no doubt, has anecdotes for days on the relationship he shared with the former Indian skipper, and others, during his tenure as the physiotherapist of the Indian side in the 90s.

Which could explain his excitement when an opportunity to reunite with Kumble, the current Kings XI Punjab coach, presented itself in the lead up to the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League.

Unfortunately, there isn’t time for nostalgia. Thus, Leipus spoke at length about new norms, fitness challenges, social media’s impact, workload, and offered up a little sliver on Kumble. Excerpts:

Without the crowds and the opportunity to step outside the bubble, will the players have fewer distractions this year?

This set-up presents its own set of challenges. Of course, it’s easier when you don’t have pressure from families and the media as you do in India. This doesn’t quite feel like the IPL what with the bubble and the testing and everything else. So it’s still a fair bit of distraction. But it’s something we are quickly learning to adapt to.

What are the challenges of returning to cricket after such a long break?

There is a difference in what the players were exposed to during the lockdown, and by that, the challenges are going to be mostly individual ones. For example, most western players have access to home gyms, as opposed to rural sub-continent players who might not have access to a home gym. Every player has their own unique problems. They just have to rise above it. As for me, it’s a balancing act between giving them too much work and not enough work.

From a performance perspective, everyone is coming in at different levels. We don’t want to go from a nought to a hundred in two seconds, we have to do it carefully.

Does workload management assume a greater role then?

Yes and no. There is not a lot of travel involved since we’re not shuttling between cities in India. So our recovery time is going to be more efficient. The good thing about this tournament is that we don’t have to pack our bags. We staying in the same room for the next couple of months. That’s great for us. Yes, it’s a bit more condensed on the ground, but there is a lot more recovery time.

The workload is important to monitor. We don’t want guys injured half-way through the tournament and fatigued given the fact that they haven’t gotten much fitness work done pre-tournament. I guess the team that does well in the tournament is the one that manages its workload over the whole course of the IPL. It’s the guys who have a lot more in the tank towards the latter half of the tournament who are going to succeed.

Is this generation more professional in its approach to fitness?

Definitely. Chalk and cheese to what it was 20 years ago. We cringe at what we used to do. It’s embarrassing. I can’t believe we used to do that because it’s just not useful for cricket. Today, it’s more specificity. We understand the demands of the sport a lot more. We’ll never get away from the fact that cricket is a skill-based game, but the fact that you can extend your career by a decade if you’re healthy is a pretty powerful concept.

What is social media’s role in fitness?

Social media is in your face the whole time, guys are always posting what they’re doing. If they’re not doing it themselves, they feel like they’re missing out or not doing what they need to do for the team. It’s quite a bit of peer pressure. They see everyone doing it so they need to it too. You kind of get dragged along if you’re one of those guys who doesn’t like doing it. It’s a feed-forward system. It’s powerful.

What was Kumble’s commitment to conditioning when he was a player, and do you think that trait can be passed onto his team?

He had to work harder than the others to maintain his physical conditioning. It comes naturally to some guys, it wasn’t the case with Anil. He’s a legend in his own right. He has that, in Australian terms, mongrel in him. When Anil has to fight, he will fight to the death. I don’t think he can teach people this but hopefully, by association, they will pick it up. Also, being around someone who still works hard to maintain fitness, is inspiring. Coaches need to lead by example. They can talk a good game but they also have to walk the talk. They have to show guys that this is what you can achieve.