KXIP physio reveals how Mohammed Shami has remained injury-free

It was June 2018 when Mohammed Shami’s perfectly balanced international career was coming off the track. A few months ago, he had starred for India on the tour of South Africa before his public feud with his estranged wife Hasin Jahan brought a spate of problems for him. He first failed miserably in the Indian Premier League while playing for Delhi Capitals before failing the mandatory the yo-yo test which ruled him out of the Test against Afghanistan.

But the right-arm pacer soon regained his fitness, cleared the test, earned the call for the tour of England and has not looked back since then. In fact, he is in the best phase of his career right now. Not only has he impressed in Tests but has also done well in the ODIs and is part of India’s World Cup squad. Shami is also doing extremely well in the ongoing IPL. With 16 wickets in 12 games, he is Kings XI Punjab’s leading wicket-taker this season.

Kings XI Punjab physio Brett Harrop has now lifted the lid on the secret that has fuelled the turnaround in Shami’s fitness and performance. Harrop has said weight loss and much-improved body composition has played a big role in the turnaround. He said that being lean has helped Shami avoid any injury.

“The fact that he is leaner and his body composition is better, that has played a huge part in him being injury-free,” Harrop was quoted as saying by India TV before adding: “It (being injury-free) has a bit of a snowball effect. When you have less injuries, you play more and the more you play, it makes you more robust and you are less likely to get injured. So that (better body composition) is definitely the reason why he is in a better spot than in the past.”

Word on Rahul and Shami

Mohammed Shami and his Kings XI Punjab teammate KL Rahul are part of India’s World Cup squad. And Harrop has delivered some update on the duo, saying that they are strictly following the instructions from national bodies. The Australian also revealed that the national bodies are keeping close tabs on the activities of the World Cup-bound players.

“The main thing (this season) has been the interest from national bodies, which have been asking about their schedule and how their travel has been, their communication with the national team’s physio. Other than that I have not noticed anything much. All the concerned players are aware that it is a World Cup year but at the same time are focused on their job in the IPL,” he said.

“With someone like Shami, it has been about just recovery from match to match as he and also Rahul have been playing every game. The guys who have not been playing have been lifting more weights, doing more intense running sessions. Guys like Shami and Rahul have been playing every game so it has been more about mobility and recovery and maintaining some strength at the same time,” he added.

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