Virat Kohli’s fitness focus is a far cry from the Indian cricket team’s preparation of yesteryear

NOT too long ago, Indian cricketers would be lounging on deck chairs and enjoying a cuppa and bickies. Virat Kohli leads a very different India with a new focus on professionalism, writes Robert Craddock.

Virat Kohli gets off the bus after arriving in Australia.

When Virat Kohli posted a picture of himself going full throttle on a treadmill on Saturday, John Wright would have smiled and shaken his head.

Kohli was the player Wright was looking for but never quite managed to find.

The India captain had only just landed in Brisbane but instead of heading to bed he was off to the gym.

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Former New Zealand batsman Wright would have noted the poignant contrast to his experiences in the gymnasium when he was India coach from 2000-2005.

He often tells the story of the day he went to a gym in Mumbai with one of his senior players and soon after a group of Australians including Matthew Hayden filed in.

Immediately their eyes turned to the Indian batsman who was on an exercise bike wearing sandals, sitting nonchalantly upright and going so slowly he had not raised so much as a bead of sweat.

Virat Kohli at India training at the Gabba. Picture: Peter Wallis

“Hayden and the guys looked at me and I could tell they were thinking “well done Wrighty, gee you have really got this mob fizzing.’’

Outwardly Wright gave nothing away and offered a simple smile. Inwardly he cringed.

He felt right there and then Australian has seized an advantage, as if they were viewing a team stuck in a bygone era, which India unquestionably were.

A few months before the gym exchange Wright banned lounge chairs from Indian training.

It irked him that batsmen would finish their net sessions and retreat to their decadent lounge chairs and have tea and snacks served as if they had just climbed down from Mt Everest rather than a 20 minute hit.

There were no sandals spotted in the gym or deckchairs at training on Sunday as India had their first net hitout of their Australian summer at the Gabba.

India fans watch the training at the Gabba. Picture: Peter Wallis

Many of their youngsters are so wiry you can almost hear the twitches of their fast twitch fibre.

Rather than take a lounge chair to training, fitness freak Kohli will sometimes carry nut butter and gluten free bread.

Until he recently chose a vegetarian diet in an attempt to give him more strength, his daily diet featured a three-egg omelette for breakfast, grilled chicken with mash and greens for lunch and boiled or grilled seafood for dinner.

If his personal adviser told him he needed to add fat he would add some red meat for lunch and would compare his constantly monitored fat levels to tennis star Novak Djokovic.

India cricket captain Virat Kohli at training.

Kohli’s commitment is important for their has long been a theory in Indian cricket that the senior players felt a sense of entitlement and did not like being pushed.

India are now a thorough modern cricket team and their performance data, including workload tracking, stress level management, diet and sleeping patterns are all logged and analysed.

For all of their progress they are still not the team they want to be.

At home they are nigh invincible but with just three wins in their last 12 series they have much to prove on the road.

It just shows you can count every calorie that goes into your body, go around every witches hat and training and be guided by programs that send man to the moon but if you can’t work out which way Jimmy Anderson is swinging the ball at Lord’s or how to handle Kagiso Rabada’s 150kmh thunderbolts none of it matters much.

Originally published as Virat Kohli’s fitness focus is a far cry from the Indian cricket team’s preparation of yesteryear