Back At It: Cheteshwar Pujara Hits The Nets To Train With Saurashtra Teammates In Rajkot After 3-months Under Lockdown

"It has been close to 10 days now. Though we were working on our fitness during the lockdown, there is no substitute to hitting the nets and it feels great.

India's seasoned test cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara and his Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat are back in training mode after they hits the nets in more than three months since they were confined to their respective homes amid the nationwide lockdown announced by PM Modi on March 23.

Pujara along with Unadkat, batsman Arpit Vasavada and medium pacer Prerak Mankad have been training at Pujara's academy, located in the outskirts of Rajkot.

The Saurashtra domestic cricket stalwarts have been a bit more lucky as compared to their other counterparts as the COVID-19 cases in Rajkot have been on the lower side as compared to the bigger metro cities in India.

"It has been close to 10 days now. Though we were working on our fitness during the lockdown, there is no substitute to hitting the nets and it feels great. We are following all the government guidelines while practising," Vasavada, man of the match in the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal, told PTI on Monday.

"JD bhai (Unadkat) also joined us recently and is gradually increasing his time in the nets just like all of us. He is bowling without using saliva on the ball (recently banned by the ICC).

"As for us (Pujara and I), we started with batting sessions of 10-15 minutes and plan to increase the intensity gradually. We have also some net bowlers who are based out of Rajkot.



While all professional cricketers will need four to six weeks for regaining match fitness, the task is a tad tougher for the bowlers, who are at a bigger risk of getting injured after a long break.