Abhishek Nayar's off-season training routine for Rohit Sharma: Chop wood, lift tyres & walk in a tank of wet clay

Abhishek Nayar’s role in reviving Dinesh Karthik’s career is well-known, but his life coaching ways go back to another player — Rohit Sharma, who he trained a few years ago. When Nayar says he made Sharma do some “crazy stuff” while he trained, he wasn’t kidding.

Nayar told ETPanache that he made Sharma work on the grounds during the off season, not with a bat, but a shovel. “When the ground was being restructured, I made Rohit go and dig up the grounds and put sand in like a construction worker. I even made him chop wood, lift tyres and walk in a tank full of wet clay,” he said. If the training methods seem unconventional, it’s because they are.

But Nayar knows Sharma’s potential all too well to push his limits, as was evident in an interview a few years ago where he said, “Rohit is immune to what the world thinks about him. When he’s thrown against the wall, he has the knack of bouncing back.”.