"They get injured in the gym, not on the ground" - Virender Sehwag on Indian players' inclination towards weight training

Former opening batter Virender Sehwag believes that the reason Indian players get injured repeatedly is due to their workout routines. He opined that they should not give preference to weight training.

Sehwag claimed players didn't suffer any major back or hamstring injuries during his playing days. He suggested that the current crop of players, on the other hand, have picked up these types of injuries due to how they train in the gym.

Speaking on 'The Ranveer Show', here's what Sehwag said about the Team India stars' training methods:

"There is no place for weightlifting in cricket. Instead, you should do the exercises that improve your game. Weightlifting will give you strength, but will also increase stiffness and soreness. In our days, Aakash Chopra, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, or Yuvraj Singh, nobody were ruled out due to back, hamstring, or quadricep injuries.

"Whereas KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer, have all dealt with such injuries. They are getting injured due to weight training. They get injured in the gym, not on the ground."

Notably, while KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma seem to be fully fit at the moment, Shreyas Iyer could remain out of action for a while owing to a back injury.

The right-handed batter has also been ruled out of the forthcoming three-match home ODI series against Australia because of the same.

Sehwag emphasized that there cannot be the same training program for all the players, as everyone has a different body. He recalled how Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel had issues with their knees in the past after due to clean and jerk workouts.

He said:

"Basu Shanker was with the Indian team for a lot of years, and he made the same programs for all players. Why should there be the same program for Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli? When Ashwin was with the Kings XI Punjab, he told me he was doing clean and jerk workouts because it was in trend.

"Athletes train from childhood for clean and jerk and still get injured. Imagine a cricketer starting when he's over 30 years old. Both Ashwin and Axar had problems with their knees because of this workout."

Sehwag seemed unimpressed by Basu Shanker's training programs. Shanker served as the strength and conditioning coach of the Indian team from 2015 to 2019. The cricketer-turned-commentator revealed that during that period, the workout routine was the same for Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.

---

"Not everyone is Virat Kohli" - Virender Sehwag on weight training

Virender Sehwag further elaborated that many former players were able to maintain their fitness without doing weight training during their playing days.

He suggested that just because lifting weights has helped Virat Kohli, it doesn't mean that the same routine will also reap rewards for other players.

On this, the 44-year-old said:

"We didn't do any weight training in our days, but we were still able to play cricket all day. This could be Virat Kohli's funda. But not everyone is Virat Kohli. You need to prepare a training program based on your own body."

It is worth noting that a number of India's key players have had to remain out of action in the recent past due to their respective injuries.