Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, has made it known that he doesn’t agree with bowlers doing intense weightlifting at the gym. He’s talked about this before.

Gavaskar thinks that when fast bowlers lift heavy weights, it’s a big reason why many of them get back injuries. He supported his view by pointing out that in the past, bowlers didn’t get injured as often because they didn’t do those kinds of exercises.

During the India versus England second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham, Gavaskar was asked how fast bowlers like Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath played so much cricket without many resources, technology, or recovery methods.

Gavaskar answered directly, saying that bowlers back in his day did what their job needed.

Gavaskar said that those bowlers trained differently. Kapil Dev was hardly ever in the gym. He was always running around and bowling to several batters in the nets. Then he would bat and bowl some more. Essentially, he was doing what his job required: bowling. So, his bowling muscles and his whole body were used to bowling. He was a wonderful athlete and could have been a champion in any sport. He practiced cricket because that’s what his job was.

Injuries to fast bowlers are a big problem in cricket now, including for Indian pacers. Jasprit Bumrah, the team’s key pacer, has had injury problems in the past. Because of this, the team decided to have him play in only three of the five Test matches in England. Mohammed Shami, another experienced India pacer, has also had his share of injuries. Mayank Yadav, a rising pace bowler, and Umran Malik, another fast bowler, have also missed many games due to injuries, and there are more examples.