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Gluten-free Food And No 'kyon Drop Ho Gaye' - Inside Bhuvneshwars Quiet Road Back To T20I Team

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: When Bhuvneshwar Kumar trudged off the field in Napier on November 22, 2022, little did anyone know that it would be his last T20I for India for nearly four years. Three captaincy changes and at least two selection committee overhauls later, his India career appeared consigned to the past tense. On October 17, it was revived where it began. Arshdeep Singh took a blow to the shoulder in Hyderabad, and Bhuvneshwar was drafted into the squad for the fifth T20I against the West Indies in Bengaluru. When Shreyas Iyer took his name while revealing the changes to the playing eleven, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium erupted. Bhuvneshwar made his T20I debut at the same venue against Pakistan in December 2012 and wowed everyone with his swing. It is now his IPL home via Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Though the heavens intervened to abandon the game, that game will also be remembered for Bhuvneshwars first sight in Indian colours after 2022. His selection for the five-match T20I series in New Zealand, which begins in Christchurch on Thursday, had come earlier. When that news reached Dr. Ramneesh Vohra, his physiotherapist since 2020 and who was in the middle of an appointment at his clinic in Noida, happiness was writ large on his face. When I got the news, I immediately called sir and congratulated him and he picked up the call and we then discussed about the journey and talked that 'aaj tak humne jitna kaam kiya, woh badiya nikla' (whatever work we have done till now has turned out very well), Vohra recalled in a free-wheeling chat with IANS. Then all the emotions came out of happiness while talking, and there's no doubt about it. Although we were not expecting this thing to happen, I mean, we were not working together for this day particularly. But when something like this happens as a reward, emotions come up, right?' he added. Vohra later joined him at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, where Bhuvneshwar was preparing for New Zealand, and stayed until he was summoned to the fifth T20I squad. Bhuvneshwar was the fulcrum of RCB's back-to-back IPL titles in 2025 and 2026, including picking 28 wickets in 16 matches this year. Yet Vohra insists a return to the Indian team was never the target. In the past few years, he never targeted himself with, ' No, I have to go back to the team and really work hard.' He used to always say that I have to do my work and the selectors are doing their work, and I'm not going to do anything out of the box. He would say, 'No, I just love cricket. I have a passion for this game and I just really want to give 100 percent whenever I hit the ground.' He always played with this mindset in every tournament and any format. Whenever he got the opportunity to play, he never said no to anything. He always said that as long as I'm there, I have to give my 100 percent and I'll go and play whatever game is on the ground, he said. Bhuvneshwars partnership with Vohra was forged in mid-2020, after the first Covid-19 lockdown. Bhuvneshwar was then an India regular, and the brief for him to Vohra was refinement, not repair. He just wanted to be a good version of himself, always. He would ask, Can I make myself into the same fitness regime? Is it possible for me, for you, or for us to maintain my mobility, flexibility, and work on my biomechanics if possible? Can we just improve a bit more towards my structure? So, we started like that only. There was no injury, nothing like that. Serendipity did the rest. Vohra, then attached to BCCI domestic sides, was introduced to him by then Railways captain Karan Sharma and Harsh Tyagi, who trained with Bhuvneshwar at Wonders Cricket Club in Noida's Sector 34. Their endorsement sufficed and Bhuvneshwar enlisted his services and began from scratch. Vohra says the two never once relitigated why Bhuvneshwar had been dropped from the Indian team after that game in Napier. Because he's a very down-to-earth person, he is the kind of person who never thinks about whatever happened in the past. We never had a discussion about what went wrong or kyon drop ho gaye (why I got dropped). He just said, I have to prepare for what comes next. Suppose the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy or DY Patil T20 tournament was to come and he would commence preparing for it. If Vijay Hazare Trophy, Ranji Trophy or IPL was on the calendar, then he would start preparing for it at the earliest. So, the discussion was always about what's next, and how to be great in those competitions. There was never a discussion about what happened or went wrong in the past. Nothing like that happened because, see, like he's been saying from the start that selection or not is not in my hands, but performing is in our hands, so as keeping my body fit. His words have always been, 'I'll do whatever is in my area and hands, I'll work on that, and I will not think about whatever is happening afterwards.' What will I get or won't I get, I don't think much as I just have to work - that too with full honesty, Vohra said. The groundwork was meticulous: a biomechanical and musculoskeletal screening modelled on the CoE protocols, plus body-composition, fitness and nutrition tests. Strength and conditioning coach Surya Yadav assumed charge of training, and nutritionist Shah Fahad oversaw the dietary tests. Yadav, currently with the Uttar Pradesh Under-23 men's team, was unavailable for a comment. Everything we did, whatever screening was there, whatever tests were there, it was all evidence-based. It didn't mean that we were doing it randomly. Everything was very much sure that we would do this, and whatever we get in that, we will work on that. Nothing was like hit and error. Everything was evidence-based and dependent upon whatever we do. It will be all study-based and all that will be there, and the results that we have already got on those things. When we see the results, we will work on that. Until and unless, if it doesn't work, until and unless we don't get that improvement, or didn't get that achievement, then we can think about anything else. So, our fill-in-the-blanks kept happening, blocks kept coming into place, and we got to what we wanted. Not once, Vohra says, did Bhuvneshwar second-guess the regime. He was so consistent right from the beginning, so honest and trustful that he never said, Why am I getting this, or why am I not getting this. When I go out, I have to be 100 percent in my body so that I can deliver balls with 100 percent of my efficiency. That was his aim. An archive of old footage helps flag the subtlest shifts in his action, and each specialist guards his own lane. All the qualities were there because we have worked on it for the last 6 years. Wherever we have taken the old videos, we have worked on them. In the old videos, it used to come like this. Now, if there are any changes, then how will we go back? How will we work on it? How will we do it? How will I do it? I never interrupted Surya sir's work. Surya sir never interrupted my work. We both had a very clear vision that I will look at these things, you will look at these things, and Bhuvi sir, you will look at these things. We had divided our departments so that there was no confusion in between, and it's always teamwork. Diet proved to be a potent force in keeping Bhuvneshwar in fine fettle. Tests flagged the bloating endemic among cricketers and traced it to gluten and lactose. Gluten was jettisoned, lactose and sugar scaled back, to banish the stiffness and soreness he had been carrying into matches. We made minor, minor changes and got major, major results. That was a great thing that happened. Plus, we never missed out on any mobility session, any flexibility session, any mobilisation session, any strength and conditioning session, any weight training session, and his body has transformed. Leaner, though, is not lighter. He still weighs around 73-74 kg, but his body-fat percentage has fallen while muscle quality and hydration have improved. Vohra credits that sculpted frame, and painstaking rehab of the injuries that punctuated his earlier career, for keeping him injury-free since. Sweets are off the menu, and ensuring daily protein intake is there via bars, shakes and chillas, with eggs taken only if needed. Fahad also arranged a genetic test to map Bhuvneshwar's nutritional needs, and masseur Kesar Ali rounds off an inner circle that has remained unbroken since 2020. The best part is Bhuvi sir never changed his team right from the beginning since we met after the Covid-19 first lockdown. I don't know what happened before Covid-19, but after Covid-19, the best part is he trusted me a lot right from the beginning, and he never told me that no, I want to change this, or that. He said, Whatever you want me to do, I will be able to do it, and I will also get the results. The dividend, Vohra says, shows in how swiftly Bhuvneshwar bounces back. Actually, so you can see the results, and after the game, he never felt like, ' No, I am exhausted, I am tired, now I don't want to play for the next part of the game. He is always ready. He never said no to even the games on consecutive days. He always said, If you want to play, then play, and whenever you want to play, play with your 100 percent effort. There is no compromise with cricket. He is very introverted and not a party person. He is one of those rare and sweetest and very kindest cricketers I have ever met. That reticence, Vohra adds, is often mistaken for a lack of graft. Few cricketers, in his view, are as dedicated as Bhuvneshwar - he carves out time for every facet of his game, from bowling and batting to fielding and rehab, and does all of it away from the social media limelight. Because we live in the same society, so we meet. Even if there is a hello, there is no problem. Even if there is a small issue, we meet. He treats me like family, so obviously, vice versa, reciprocally. He never behaves like, I am a superstar and you are my physiotherapist. He always says that you all are my family and always speaks like that. Whenever we have a conversation, whenever we talk, he never makes me feel that what is my level and what is your level. He says, 'main aap hi ke level ka hoon' (I am of your level). I am one of you. He calls us 'bhai' (brother), and whatever word occurs in his mind, it feels very special. We feel that maybe we are talking to someone, but he's still the same person, and he is like this with everyone. So, this is the best quality about him. Vohra's clinic, Muscle Stretch, marked his return to the playing eleven in Bengaluru on Instagram by promising 20 per cent off on consultations for every wicket Bhuvneshwar took, and a shot at a free consultation and physio session should he bag a five-for. It wont be a surprise if the same offer is run for the T20Is in New Zealand, starting on Thursday. Whenever we have a conversation, whenever we talk, he never makes me feel that what is my level and what is your level. He says, 'main aap hi ke level ka hoon' (I am of your level). I am one of you. He calls us 'bhai' (brother), and whatever word occurs in his mind, it feels very special. We feel that maybe we are talking to someone, but he's still the same person, and he is like this with everyone. So, this is the best quality about him. Also Read: Special Cricket Stories Article Source: IANS