New Delhi: Weight loss and a much improved body composition has played a huge part in keeping India's in-form pacer Mohammad Shami injury-free over the past 12-18 months, says Kings XI Punjab physio Brett Harrop.
Shami's stellar performances in the overseas Test tours of South Africa, England and Australia also helped him secure an unexpected World Cup berth, considering he was not a regular in the 50-over format as recent as six months ago.
He has lost a good 5-6 kgs and worked that extra hard on his fitness, making him "leaner than ever before" in the words of India captain Virat Kohli.
"The fact that he is leaner and his body composition is better, that has played a huge part in him being injury-free," Harrop, who has worked with national teams including Bangladesh, said. "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," said the 39-year-old Australian, who has played one first-class game. It is a Word Cup year and that has made jobs of the respective IPL teams' physios a tad more challenging.
All the World Cup-bound players has received a handout from their respective national team physios on how to go handle their fitness during the IPL. Shami and K L Rahul are the two India players in the Kings XI Punjab squad and Harrop said they are strictly following the instructions from national bodies. "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."