Mentally prepare myself to bowl 10 overs in a Test match: Rohit Sharma

Mumbai, May 11: After a rousing reception to Cricket Connected, Star Sports now introduces a brand-new show ‘Cricket Connected: Chats that will help fans catch-up with their favourite super stars during the week.

In an extension to the Cricket Connected brand, the new series, that will air on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 Hindi from May 13, will see flagbearers of the sport delve further into how they fruitfully utilize their time during the lockdown and offer advice to cricketers on how to be mentally focused during COVID-19 times.

‘Cricket Connected: Chats' will kickstart with the ‘Hitman' Rohit Sharma's special interview on May 13 followed by the ‘God of Cricket' Sachin Tendulkar and Team India captain Virat Kohli each featuring exclusively on May 14 and 15 respectively.

In the first episode of the series, Rohit Sharma, who recently turned a year older on April 30, talks about how he misses bowling. He said: "I miss my bowling! Since I injured my finger, I'm unable to grip the ball and I can't bowl the way I used to. Wankhede's pitch doesn't give me a chance to bowl, so I stay away from it. In Tests, I try to bowl because that gives bowlers a break. To help the team, I mentally prepare myself to bowl 10 overs in a Test match."

In the second episode Tendulkar doles out golden advice on how players can still use the lockdown to prepare themselves. Talking about ways on how cricketers can be physically and mentally ready once the lockdown is lifted, Tendukar said: "I would tell all of them to recharge their batteries. They need to have a little time off as well. When you are playing every alternate day, it's not so easy to stay on top of the game all the time. It is good to move away from cricket for a while, recharge your batteries and then start focusing. I'm seeing different kinds of training that players are doing on social media.

"In addition to that, as far as batting and bowling is concerned, there are physical drills and preparing yourself mentally that one needs to do. They also need to visualize on how they can rectify what wrong they did in the past and how they can repeat the good they did. There have been many champions who didn't have the best of everything, but they made the best of everything they had, so right now, we are in that situation. We need to try and maximise whatever facilities is available to us right now. It's all about staying connected with cricket."